A Kind of Singularity
by arainymonday
Summary: Six years after the death of her mother, Cassandra Fraiser continues to struggle to find her place in the world. As she nears the end of her intern year, she meets a patient whose connection to Janet Fraiser will change Cassie's life forever.
1. Cassie

**Disclaimer:** None of these characters belong to me. I'm just playing in the Stargate sandbox.

**Established Ships: **Jack/Sam, Daniel/Janet, Daniel/Vala

**Timeline: **Spring/Summer 2010

**Spoilers:** All seasons, plus _Savarna_ – a Stargate SG-1 audio drama from Big Finish Productions.

o o o

**Singularity:**

**one**

the mathematical representation of a black hole

**two**

a position where subsequent behavior cannot be predicted

**three**

the quality of being singular: extraordinary, remarkable, exceptional

o o o

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter One**

**Cassie**

Cassandra Fraiser jogged from the Anchutz Medical Center parking lot to the University Hospital entrance. Students lined the low walls protecting dewy flower beds and filled picnic tables scattered around the yard. A few professors with briefcases in hand hurried across the pavement to their lecture halls. Pages of medical textbooks and anatomy charts fluttered in the chilly morning breeze, and the rising sun cast the quad in blinding orange light. It was shaping up to be a beautiful Rocky Mountain day.

The automatic doors hissed open, and Cassie rushed from the sharp chill outside into the warm hospital lobby so quickly her cheeks stung. Ducking her head and picking up the pace, she darted past the Emergency waiting room before the patients could notice the powder blue scrubs peeking out from under her pea coat. A nurse held the elevator door, flashed a knowing smirk in Cassie's direction, and returned to the patient chart in her hands.

On the way up to the third floor, Cassie surreptitiously checked her appearance in the highly polished elevator doors. Her square face looked oddly elongated in the metal, but she could make out a tired, harried expression. Her deep brown eyes held a hint of weariness known only to medical interns and insomniacs. She remained undecided about the new hairstyle. She'd never worn her hair short before, and the reddish brown locks looked decidedly windswept.

In the changing rooms, Cassie stored her coat and pulled on the white lab coat bearing her name, attached her ID badge, and slammed the locker door shut. More clanging echoed her locker door. The interns filed out of the room and headed to the nurse's station en masse. Ten pairs of tennis shoes squeaked against the waxed floor, and ten lab coats rustled in the breeze of their rapid clip.

"Good morning, interns."

Dr. Mariam Horner was a tall, imposing woman whose sardonic smile held direct contradiction to her words. As she did every morning, the resident doctor inspected the appearance of each intern, as if she could judge their skill this way. Her watery blue eyes rested a moment longer than usual on Cassie's new disordered hairstyle.

Horner began handing out assignments, some of which were the same as the previous day and others brand new. "Adams and Wye, Dr. Singh is waiting for you in the ER …"

Cassie had completed nearly all of her clerkship in Orthopedics, and she already knew she would split her time between running tests, doing pre-ops in Emergency, and post-ops on the fourth floor. Before Horner could give the assignment, Cassie's pager sounded.

"It's Dr. Denby," she announced, looking at her resident for approval to leave. With a nod from Horner, Cassie broke away from the herd of interns and raced down two flights of stairs to the ER where Dr. Alicia Denby, an orthopedics resident in her final year, would be waiting with a new patient.

At first glance, one might assume Alicia Denby looked as delicate as the porcelain doll she resembled. The top of her head came to Cassie's shoulder. The diminutive doctor stood at the nurse's station scribbling on a patient chart.

"Good morning, Dr. Denby," Cassie said warmly.

She didn't plan to specialize in orthopedics, but Denby had made it a pleasurable and immensely beneficial rotation. Cassie's clerkships, and her future residency, had been built around one goal – to join the medical staff at Stargate Command where she would research human physiology and evolution in a lab full of alien specimens.

Sam had asked her once, and Jack had asked separately, why not attend the Air Force Academy and fast-track her research? With a word from Jack, a residency would have been set up for her in the SGC. Instead, Cassie had gone the civilian route. She'd earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of Colorado in Denver and then applied to the medical school at the Aurora campus. She had another three-and-half years minimum before Jack could even consider bringing her into the SGC.

Cassie didn't have a good reason except that she didn't feel compelled to join the Air Force. Earth, and the United States specifically, had been her home for thirteen years, and yet Hanka had been home for nearly as long. To join the armed forces felt like permanently switching her allegiance. She loved Earth and its people, but she had loved Hanka and its people too. At eighteen, Cassie hadn't been ready to make such an irreversible decision. At twenty-five, she still wasn't ready.

"We have a patient waiting in bed three," Dr. Denby said, finally looking up from the chart and passing it off to the ER nurse. "Eason will be joining us, but I'll let you take point since you got here first."

Denby didn't wait for Eason to arrive. She handed over the chart to Cassie and pulled back the blue curtain that had been blocking the patient from view. Cassie caught a glimpse of a handsome young man with a shadowy square jaw, curly jet black hair, and eyes as dark as coal before Dr. Denby prompted her to begin the interview.

"Good morning …" Cassie searched the chart for a name. _Marco Beyash_. "I'm Dr. Cassandra Fraiser, and this is Dr. Alicia Denby. You came in early this morning complaining of a pain in your foot, is that right?"

"That's right, doctor."

Marco spoke with a soft, lilting accent not unlike some Irish celebrities, but there was a quality about it that Cassie couldn't identify – something that made it decidedly not British. She had a momentary image of Marco Beyash as a Roma, a gypsy, collecting accents from a dozen regions and shaping them into something new. His eclectic clothing did nothing to refute that idea.

"When did you first notice the pain, Mr. Beyash?"

"Please call me Marco." He stared at her with those coal black eyes, like he knew her and expected her to remember him too. Cassie shifted her weight from left to right foot, but the principles of bedside manner refused to let her unease show on her face. "And I noticed it yesterday afternoon, but it got worse overnight."

"Okay, Marco. I'm going to examine your foot." Cassie glanced at his swollen, bruised right foot. She pulled on a pair of gloves and gently lifted his ankle off the bed. "This will hurt a little, but I'll make it quick."

"I'm no stranger to pain," Marco said, though he winced as Cassie bent two of his toes. "I was shot once a long time ago and had a … what do you call it when your brain is bleedi—?"

"Hematoma," Cassie blurted. She flushed a slightly. "Sorry, it's a habit. They ingrain that into you in medical school. When someone asks a medical question, shout out the answer before a classmate does."

Marco gave a slow, easy smile. "Well, it's good to know you're a sharp one, Dr. Fraiser."

Something about the way he said 'Dr. Fraiser' sent a thrill through Cassie's heart. It felt like being separated from a dear friend for many years, running into them on the street, and only then realizing you'd forgotten all about them. Dr. Denby pointedly cleared her throat, and Cassie realized she'd been staring at Marco, trying to place him.

"Your suggested course of treatment, Dr. Fraiser?"

"Oh, umm … I would order an x-ray." She preempted the next question by adding, "Because Mr. – Marco is twenty-years-old and experienced the pain only recently, but can still walk, the most likely diagnosis is hairline fracture of the metatarsals. An x-ray will confirm."

"Good," Dr. Denby said, "Do it."

o o o

The radiologist wheeled Marco's bed into the x-ray lab and left Cassie waiting in the hallway with his chart. She flipped through it idly, wondering if there were any clues about who he might be or why she thought he knew her. Some things did jump out, like the fact that Marco didn't have medical insurance and that his address was Colorado Springs.

Was that how she knew him? She wracked her brain pulling up mental images of classmates before it occurred to her that Marco was five years younger than her. Even if they'd both gone to Cheyenne Mountain High School, they wouldn't have been there at the same time.

The vibrating cell phone interrupted Cassie's thoughts. She pulled out the BlackBerry from her pocket and peered at the Caller ID. _NORAD_. As far as she knew, Sam was still on board the _General Hammond_ scouting for other Icarus bases, and when Jack called, the ID always read _Pentagon_. Cassie hesitated for just a moment. It might be Vala wanting directions on using Twitter again.

"Hello," Cassie answered, prepared to feign a sudden and unexpected emergency situation if it was Vala.

There was a pause. "You sound like you're cringing. Who were you expecting?"

"Sam!" Cassie breathed a sigh of relief. "I didn't think you would be back on Ear – home for another month or two." A passing nurse threw her a quizzical look, and she turned her back to the corridor to finish the conversation privately.

"The _Sun Tzu_ is having problems with its main weapons systems, and with our other ships on missions, Earth is defenseless at the moment," Sam explained. "The _George Hammond_ was closest to Earth, so General O'Neill recalled us."

Cassie shook her head slightly. How did they keep up this ruse? _General O'Neill_? The regulations alone were another reason to avoid the armed forces. Some people found comfort in stricture, but to Cassie it had only ever felt like a bleak road to a sad, lonely ending. The first twelve years of her life had been spent under the thumb of Nirrti – the Hankan 'god' – and even thirteen years later Cassie itched to do exactly as she pleased, when she pleased.

"Anyway, I wondered if you were free for lunch tomorrow. I could beam down and meet you at our usual table," Sam continued.

"That would be great, Sam! I have so much to tell you. I finished my neurology clerkship, and I've moved on to orthopedics. Oh, and I taught an old dog a new trick." Cassie laughed lightly and wished she'd saved that line for Jack. "Homer can finally fetch the newspaper for me! Although it might be that he's too old and tired to chew it up first."

Homer had been a puppy when Jack gave him to her, but he was going on fourteen now and not getting around so well. She dreaded to think of the coming day when he would get too old. Homer had been her pet for as long as she'd been on Earth. He'd become inextricably linked to her identity on the planet since Jack told her about the Earth 'rule' that every kid had to have a dog.

"I look forward to hearing all about it. I'll beam down at noon."

Cassie had no sooner slid the phone back into her pocket than the door opened and the radiologist beckoned her to come in. Two sets of developed x-rays hung on the lightboard. The three fractures in the metatarsals were apparent at once, but there was something very wrong about these images.

"These are Marco's?" she demanded.

The radiologist – his ID badge declared him 'Stephen Sibley' – nodded. "I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't taken the x-ray, but it's definitely his foot."

Cassie chewed her bottom lip as her eyes darted over the black and white film. She instructed Stephen Sibley to page Dr. Denby, took the x-rays down, and wheeled Marco back to the ER. Her mind dwelled on the condition of Marco's bones. She'd never seen anything like it in such a young man, but maybe Dr. Denby had.

When she had seen Marco to the small room just off the pit, Cassie hovered by the nurse's station waiting for Dr. Denby with the x-ray films in their protective slips tucked under her arm.

"What is it?" Denby asked in an irritated sort of voice that told Cassie she'd just pulled her resident out of surgery. She rushed to answer the question.

"My patient – Marco Beyash – just had x-rays done for possible metatarsal fractures. I can see the fractures, but … well …" Cassie pulled out the first x-ray and held it up to the light for Denby. "They look like fragility fractures. You can see more here and here, in the cuboid and navicular. It's like he took a step and his whole foot … _cracked_."

"Let's go talk to Marco Beyash."

Cassie stood back and let Dr. Denby do this patient interview. There was a time to let interns run wild and time for interns to stay quiet and listen. When a patient's foot cracked like glass because he took a step, it was time to listen. As Denby went through a litany of questions, Cassie noticed how Marco's eyes kept straying in her direction. She had again the inexplicable sensation that he knew her. It was all she could do not to blurt out the question between Denby's medical queries.

"Dr. Fraiser, what are possible causes of bone deterioration?" Dr. Denby asked suddenly.

Cassie knew the answer by rote. "Excessive alcohol consumption, vitamin D deficiency, tobacco, malnutrition, excessive exertion, and exposure to heavy metals."

"Good. Perform the tests to eliminate each possibility and page me again when you have the results."

The resident swept from the room, leaving Cassie alone with Marco. He turned his full attention on her now, and she felt that he was searching her in the same way Dr. Horner searched the interns every morning. Rallying herself, Cassie forced a smile.

"Looks like we're going to be getting to know each other pretty well, Marco."

"I'd like that, Dr. Fraiser," he replied.

His lilting words and easy smiles did nothing to alleviate Cassie's unease. There was something more to Marco Beyash; something she didn't think a battery of medical tests would reveal.


	2. Marco

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Two**

**Marco**

It felt like torture sitting in the medical library with the Colorado spring blooming outside the windows. Some intrepid and sympathetic librarian had arranged the computer terminals and tables to face away from the windows, but it didn't stop the doctors in the library from craning their necks for a wistful glance.

Cassie had given up the right to lounge around in the yard when she applied to medical school. Her life now consisted of pouring over charts and test results, slogging through reference books, and searching the hospital's databases to treat her patients. This was what she had wanted from the time she was twelve years old and had watched her entire world die.

Her ink pen paused in the middle of a word, and Cassie closed her eyes thinking back to her third interview with Marco. Had he said anything at all that would give her a clue about what disease or disorder he might have?

_ Cassie found it hard to concentrate with those coal black eyes searching her as if Marco could see right through her. She shifted her weight and flipped open the medical chart to review Dr. Denby's notes._

_ "I just have a few more questions, Marco, so I know what tests to order."_

_ "I thought it was a fracture? Don't you just slap some plaster on it?" Marco inquired._

_ "Actually, we'll be giving you an air cast since you only have hairline fractures," Cassie explained. "What concerns us is how many you have. The questions I'm asking will rule out the possibility that you have an illness causing these fractures."_

_ With Marco's consent, Cassie began the third interview by asking about his medical history. He repeated that he'd been shot and had a hematoma. He'd also been treated a number of times for anemia and a few other broken bones._

_ "You're good at these questions, Dr. Fraiser," Marco joked, when Cassie asked her fourth follow-up._

_ "Well, my mom was a doctor too. I grew up being asked questions like this, so I guess it's second nature."_

_ There was a strange light in Marco's eye when Cassie looked up. "Your mother was a doctor? Is she something else now then?"_

_ "No. No, she's not … she's not anything now. She passed away six years ago." What was left of Marco's teasing smile vanished. "It's okay. I've … I've come to terms with it. It helps knowing that she died a hero, saving someone else. She was an Air Force doctor."_

_ "I'm very sorry to hear that. My mother died as well, when I was very young. My father named our ship after her," Marco shared._

_ Cassie refrained from pursuing the topic. These conversations tended to turn into a pity party even if neither one wanted any. There was nothing an orphan hated more than being one-upped. That tended to happen anytime Cassie and Daniel talked about their childhoods, so they both chose not to mention it anymore. The common experience was enough to form a bond._

_ "So your dad is a Captain," Cassie said. "Do you spend much time on his ship?"_

_ "Oh, yeah," Marco chuckled. "Literally, it's our only home."_

Cassie put pen to paper and completed her thought. The tests showed that Marco was vitamin D deficient, but that didn't jive with his occupation. She thought of the naval officers Jack had introduced her to when she'd visited the Pentagon, all of them toned and tanned from a long tour at sea.

She underlined _heavy metals?_ twice. There could be some lead paint on their ship or other caustic chemical in their food supply, especially if they ate a lot of fresh fish. Malnutrition might also be an issue living off rations. But she'd been able to rule out tobacco and alcohol. Marco's lungs and liver were in remarkable shape, almost as if he'd never been subjected to pollution and Tylenol.

The beeping pager interrupted her research for the moment. Dr. Denby needed her to mold a cast. As much as Marco's case – and Marco himself – intrigued her, she had to focus on the patient at hand. Dropping the used books off at the librarian's desk, Cassie hurried out into the bustle of the hospital corridors and raced up two flights of stairs to meet Dr. Denby.

o o o

Nine hours later, exhausted from a nineteen hour shift, Cassie hung up her lab coat and trudged out of the changing room with her pea coat under her arm. At the glass exit, she tugged on the warm coat and braved the frigid night. The moon rose high over the distant parking lot, casting pale yellow light across the campus. Drained of all energy, Cassie could do little more than plod the pavement to her car.

Nightfall had frosted the windows of the gold Malibu, and Cassie spent fifteen minutes huddled into her coat while the vents blasted hot air at the glass. Then she made the short drive home to the apartment she'd lived in for four years of medical school.

Homer barked happily when Cassie walked through the door, but her poor dog was too old to jump around anymore. Still, he wagged his tail in affection and struggled to his feet from the doggie bed next to the flap in the kitchen door. His food bowl stood empty again, Cassie noted. Even before changing out of her scrubs, she dumped a cup full of kibble into the dish and scratched Homer's ears as he started eating.

The personality of the apartment complimented Cassie's disposition, but through no fault of her own. When she moved from a dormitory on the UC campus to an apartment in Aurora, application forms and curriculum checklists dominated her life. She couldn't have cared less if the white walls and cream carpet looked bland. Vala had minded greatly, however.

Somewhere between getting artificial amnesia and going to a high school reunion, Vala had found time to fill Cassie's apartment with colorful artwork and arabesque statues. It seemed Qetesh had had a working knowledge of Hankan culture, and the decorations, although bought on Earth, held some faint trace of Cassie's first home world. A sad layer of dust covered the apartment in the same way piles of dirty clothes overflowed from the basket onto the laundry room floor.

Changed into a pair of sweats and a UC t-shirt, Cassie fell onto the couch. She had just enough energy to phone in a takeout order and lift the remote control. The television flickered to life and immersed Cassie in a rerun of _Farscape_. She watched with growing discomfort as the evil faun-like creature manipulated the characters' DNA. Finally, she switched the channel and allowed herself to be drawn into a procedural crime drama with a lot of tonal music.

Watching television reminded her of her Marco.

"_Fascinating device," Marco said. _

_Cassie gazed up at the television suspended from the ceiling. Two women stood behind a counter demonstrating the use of a kitchen appliance that could slice tomatoes and potatoes. With a little smile she flipped open the chart._

"_Yeah," she laughed, "I have something kind of like that. I call it a knife."_

_Marco powered off the television with a smile of his own. Their eyes met for a moment, and Cassie felt chills crawl up her spine. Why did he keep looking at her in that searching way? Next time she worked in the medical library, she was going to Google 'Marco Beyash' instead of searching 'bone degeneration' in Medline._

"_So what's the news, doc?"_

"_We've been able to rule out more causes for your fractures. I think we're getting close, but we need to do another test to see how extensive your fractures are. We need to know if they're just in your feet or if they're everywhere, so I'm ordering a full MRI."_

_Marco rolled his eyes over to the patchy sky out the window. "And can I get out of here, then? I'm not made to lie in bed all day, Dr. Fraiser. I'm a man of action, and I need to be out there." He gestured to the world outside the hospital._

"_I know just the type," Cassie returned with sympathy. She thought of Jack and decided she needed to call him soon. She missed him. "It depends on what we find, Marco. I promise I'll have you home as quickly as I can."_

Cassie fell asleep on the couch with the television casting colorful shadows across her face. Sometime around three in the morning, Homer lumbered off the couch and began consuming what was left of his owner's dinner.

o o o

The daily routine began again at six o'clock. With just four hours of sleep, Cassie was expected back at the hospital in good condition to perform. The morning flew by with a flurry of new patients. Not until 11:30 did she find a minute to head back into the medical library for some follow-up on Marco's case.

With a buzz, Cassie's BlackBerry reminded her that Sam was beaming down for lunch at noon. After collecting her notes, she jogged out of the medical library still pondering what illness could make a twenty-year-old man's bones as fragile as an old woman's. She could rule out two more disorders, and she felt like she was singling in on the culprit.

Her legs carried her out of university hospital and across the quad on autopilot. Not until Sam leapt up from the picnic table and wrapped her in a tight embrace did she snap out of her reverie.

"It's so good to see you, Cassie," Sam grinned. Her eyes travelled up to Cassie's unruly short hair. "You look …"

"… exhausted? Yes, I am."

Cassie claimed the seat opposite Sam and pulled a container of chicken parmesan and spaghetti from the paper bag. Both women lived on mediocre food: hospital cafeterias and military rations. When they met up for lunch, Sam always brought food from their favorite little diner in Colorado Springs.

"I was going to say … never mind. Why don't we have a girl's night soon? I'm due some shore leave. Maybe on Thursday? We can get manicures and go shopping – "

" – and you can teach me how to manage short hair? I'm on call Thursday, but I don't have to be in the hospital, so if you could finagle some way for me to enjoy a day in Colorado Springs, but get to Denver in less than ten minutes …"

Sam laughed. "I think I might have that ability at my disposal, but don't mention it to anyone. That sort of commandeering of military assets is frowned upon."

"Even though ninety percent of the military doesn't know about the asset."

They ate a few bites in companionable silence savoring the flavor of the food. Cassie saw two pieces of chocolate cake peeking at her from inside the carry out bag. Even with all her favorite foods on the table, she found it difficult to take her mind away from Marco. Both the way he looked at her and the elusiveness of his condition burrowed into her thoughts.

"… in a very long time," Sam was saying. "Don't get me wrong, the crew on the _George Hammond_ are the best at what they do, but no amount of technology can make it the same. It's driving the aerospace engineers crazy that they can't get the inertial dampeners perfect. I told them not to bother; that the gravity on every planet is slightly different anyway. We always get our land legs back … Cassie?"

The young doctor had let her fork fall onto the half-finished plate. She stared over Sam's left shoulder at a spot in the blue-gray sky.

"Captain!"

Sam's lips twitched. "Colonel, actually."

"What? No. I mean … I think I just cured my patient!"


	3. Synonyms

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Three**

**Synonyms**

Cassie bounced on the balls of her feet with her fists shoved into the pockets of her lab coat to stop herself from drumming her fingers on the counter. The lab technician had already yelled at her for that twice. Glancing up again, Charles Scott shot her a dirty look.

"They'll be ready when they're ready!"

Cassie retreated a few steps away from the counter, but it did nothing to alleviate Chuck's bad temper, and she knew it. She'd stormed into his office and demanded he run Marco's blood work again. Not just for cadmium and lead, the heavy metals that normally caused bone loss, but for all heavy elements. If her hunch was right ….

But Cassie didn't want to let her mind go there just yet. A good doctor never jumped to conclusions.

Twenty minutes later, Chuck thrust the test results at Cassie with a sneer. She had no sooner snatched them from his fingers than he lunged for the telephone. No doubt he was complaining to Dr. Denby about her intern. Cassie had dealt with the wrath of a three star general (thanks to a daredevil stunt when Jack taught her to drive); she could deal with a fifth year resident.

Cassie's eyes and fingers flew over the test results, both landing simultaneously on the final line of the report. _Trace amounts of an unidentified heavy element_. Cassie shuffled through the sheets to find the chemical print out. Racing to the on call room, where one could count on some privacy in the middle of the day, she pulled out her BlackBerry and dialed a familiar number.

"Dr. Carolyn Lam," the voice on the other end answered.

"Carolyn, hi, it's Cassie. I wondered if I could run some symptoms by you." The door closed with a snap, and Cassie peered into both the beds to make sure she was alone.

"Of course." It sounded like Carolyn adjusted the phone. "Doesn't your resident mind you talking to other doctors, though?"

"That's the thing. I don't think my resident would recognize the symptoms for what they are."

"I'm listening."

"Twenty-year-old male with multiple fragility fractures in the metatarsals, cupoid, and navicular presenting symptoms of anemia, vitamin D deficiency, and exposure to cadmium and an unidentified heavy element."

"Sounds like prolonged space travel. We've seen similar data from Travelers treated in the Atlantis infirmary. This patient is at Anchutz?"

"Yes, I'm sending you a file."

Cassie tried to keep her voice steady and resisted the urge to dance triumphantly around the on call room. She snapped a picture with her phone and e-mailed it to Carolyn's NORAD address. There was silence on the other end of the line while Carolyn compared the chemical readout to the SGC database.

"Naquadria," Carolyn announced. "He's one of ours."

"More likely his father is," Cassie explained. "He said his father is a Captain."

"It's certainly possible. He's showing slightly higher amounts than most SGC personnel have after space travel, but I don't think the naquadria is responsible for his condition. None of our people have shown adverse symptoms. Focus on the vitamin D deficiency and anemia. Put some sun lamps into his room, give him some iron pills, and he should be fine in a few days."

"Thanks, Carolyn."

Cassie ended the call and took a seat on the lower bunk. She'd never met any Captain Beyash or heard him mentioned by anyone else. But maybe the Captain had mentioned her to Marco? Or more likely, he mentioned Dr. _Janet_ Fraiser.

And yet … how did he have slightly higher naquadria deposits than SGC personnel who lived on spaceships? Cassie froze as another possibility ignited like fireworks inside her skull.

"_So your dad is a Captain," Cassie said. "Do you spend much time on his ship?"_

_ "Oh, yeah," Marco chuckled. "We live on our ship. Literally, it's our only home."_

Cassie dove for the door, but stopped short with her hand still gripping the turned doorknob. Good doctors didn't jump to conclusions. She'd been repeating that to herself all afternoon. Going from 'Marco has naquadria deposits in his body' to 'Marco is an alien' constituted one of the largest leaps in logic ever.

"Run through all the options," Cassie muttered. "Captain Beyash really is in the Air Force, and he got special permission to bring his son onboard one of Earth's ships. Yeah, right."

She snorted with laughter. If it was that easy, Sam would have let Cassie beam up to the _George Hammond_ and view Earth from space like she'd always wanted to do. And anyway, the crew had other homes besides their assigned ship. It occurred to Cassie how arrogant she sounded, even to herself. Her natural assumption that Jack and Sam would bend any rule for her and her alone bordered on hubris.

If Captain Beyash was part of the Stargate program, there would be a record of it. She should start there. And the beauty of it was, Cassie already the security clearance to look through those files. Four years ago she had volunteered to assist Carolyn in researching alien genomes. It was about time for Cassie to pop into the SGC and offer her services again.

If she found a Captain Beyash, then case closed. Marco must have heard about her mom and got the naquadria deposits in his blood that way. If not, Cassie would cross that bridge when she came to it.

She departed the on call room and seized Marco's patient chart from the nurse's station.

"Good afternoon, Marco."

The black-haired young man automatically turned off the television when Cassie appeared at the foot of his bed. Marco shared a warm smile and that same knowing look. She couldn't help but wonder if he knew that they shared a similar foreignness to this world, and then she questioned if her own wishful thinking had taken hold.

"We're going to set up some sun lamps in your room. That will give you the vitamin D you need. I've also ordered a medicine that you're to take daily with breakfast. It will boost your iron and take care of the anemia."

"You made me a promise this morning, Dr. Fraiser," Marco sighed. "When I came to your hospital, I didn't expect to be staying here for _days_."

"I know. And if the sun lamps work, Dr. Denby will clear you to leave. But if they don't work …" Marco groaned. "… then you run the risk of breaking more bones."

_At least while you're on Earth_, Cassie thought. If Marco was an alien, then it was likely his planet and spaceship had less gravity than Earth. That, accompanied with malnutrition, would account for the fragility fractures and anemia. _Stop it, Cassie!_

The orderlies arrived on time to set up the sun lamps, and Cassie stood back supervising while they worked. In a quarter of an hour, warm light washed over Marco's face. She thought about all the other patients waiting for her attention, and then made one of the feeblest excuses she'd ever uttered.

"Some people have adverse reactions to this kind of light, so I'm going to monitor your condition for a while." Only a tiny percentage of people were allergic to sunlight.

"Be my guest, Dr. Fraiser."

Marco grinned in a way that made Cassie believe he knew she'd just made up an excuse to stay with him. Fighting down the embarrassment, she kept up the ruse and claimed a seat next to his bed. She made a brave stab at normal conversation.

"I saw on your chart that you're from Colorado Springs. So am I. I've lived there for thirteen years."

"And medical school brings you to Denver?"

Desperate to turn the conversation back to Marco, she tried another subtle tack. "Yes, but I spend my days off there in my old house. It's in the Cheyenne Mountain school district."

"So I guess that means you went to Cheyenne Mountain High School?"

She bit back an exasperated sigh. If he was trying to be evasive, he was doing a damned good job. She'd have to try a more direct attack.

"Yes, I did. What about you? Are you an Indian too?"

Marco furrowed his brow and shook his head. "No. No, I'm not."

This conversation was getting her nowhere, and it never would as long as she tried to wrest information from him. Relaxing against the cushioned chair, she tried to forget about her suspicions and see Marco as just another patient.

"Tell me about yourself, Marco. What's your story, and how does it lead to Denver?"

"Denver was an accident," Marco laughed. "I never had any intention of coming here, but … My story, though. I guess that starts when I was just a boy. After my mother died, I lived with my grandparents. They didn't like my father much. He wasn't the sort of man they'd meant my mother to marry – poor, I guess, and a wanderer, but a good man."

That sounded about right for a young Air Force officer, Cassie thought. She let Marco continue without comment.

"I had everything money could buy in that house, except my father. I was so happy when he came to get me, but … my grandfather had bodyguards. That's when I got shot. One of my father's friends, Eva, she told me I very nearly died, but they found a doctor just in time …"

Marco trailed off with another searching look at Cassie. She thought it was safe to interject a comment here without derailing him.

"I've never been shot, but when I was younger I got caught in the middle of a fight – of sorts. It was my mom who saved me, just in time."

"Then we've something in common."

The words sent a surge of emotion brighter than the sun lamps through Cassie. There was a reason she endured kel'no'reem with Teal'c and endless prattling phone calls with Vala; a reason she wanted to believe Marco was an alien. Even with all the love she felt from Sam, Jack, and Daniel, while she was an alien on Earth, a small piece of her would always be missing. No wonder Martin Lloyd wanted to forget; sometimes Cassie did too.

"Something in common."

o o o

The incoming text message caused Cassie's phone to buzz in her pocket. Dr. Horner cast a scathing glare around the pack of interns, and Cassie decided it best to pretend like she hadn't heard anything disruptive.

" … one more clerkships each. Congratulations on making it this far, but don't think you can take it easy now. All of your residents will be evaluating your performance. Enjoy your days off. I expect you all back bright and early on Monday morning."

Cassie threw a reproachful glare at Horner's retreating back. _Days off?_ The three interns on call each day wouldn't be taking it easy. Grateful that she was on call Thursday instead of the middle of the weekend, she didn't complain out loud. Now that the meeting had adjourned, the text could be read in safety.

Daniel had sent the succinct, impatient message. _Vala is driving me crazy. Get here soon and take her away. _In the ride up the elevator to the fourth floor, Cassie hurriedly typed in a reply. _Haven't left yet. Apologies._ As she approached Marco's room, she felt her pens rattling against her frequently vibrating cell phone.

"What the hell is going on your pocket?" Dr. Denby asked, not bothering to stifle her laughter. Several nurses tried to cover their snickers, but didn't quite manage. Cassie might have laughed at the innuendo too, except the truth was actually funnier.

"My friend has intercepted a text message I sent to our other friend teasing her, so she's gotten hold of his phone and is in the process of sending fifteen or so texts containing, more or less, her entire life story. In text-speak."

"Right. Let's discharge Marco Beyash so you can go start your very brief vacation," Dr. Denby smiled. "During which time I expect you'll be studying for your final clerkship."

"Naturally. Psychiatry. Won't that be fun?"

Marco submitted to his final examination with grace. Dr. Denby signed the discharge papers and turned the chart over to the nurses. Cassie, however, lingered in the room for a moment.

"Somewhere else you need to stick me with a needle?" Marco joked.

"No … Umm, no. I was just thinking …" Cassie shifted around a little awkwardly. "Since I'm not your doctor anymore, it's … I wondered if you wanted to meet up this weekend." Marco looked up sharply, his eyebrows arched gracefully. She plowed on. "I'm going home, to Colorado Springs, and I thought maybe you'd be going home too. We could have lunch or something."

Cassie couldn't read emotion in Marco's coal black eyes, and she felt her cheeks burn the longer the silence stretched between them.

This had been a bad plan. When Dr. Denby announced that Marco could be released, Cassie knew she had to find a way to stay in touch with him. She gained nothing if she found out Marco's father was not a member of the Stargate program, but lost track of him after he left the hospital. She should have snagged a sub-space transmitter from Sam's lab. She'd thought about it, too. But Marco Beyash wasn't a bad looking man.

"I'd love to go on a date with you, Dr. Fraiser."

Now Cassie's cheeks really did burn. "Then you'd better start calling me Cassie."

They made their plans, and Cassie gave him one final warning to go easy on his broken foot. Then she departed, rushed to the elevator, and whipped out her cell phone. Vala had left a whopping, record-setting twenty-two text messages. She skipped over them for now and sent a message to Daniel, who must have gotten his phone back since Vala had stopped texting.

_For V – Popcorn and romcoms. 2 hrs. Gotta tell you about a boy._

She thought that would keep Vala busy (and away from Daniel) while she collected her bags and Homer and drove the hour south to Colorado Springs. She was climbing into her car when her phone buzzed again.

_IOU_

"Yes, you do, Daniel Jackson," Cassie laughed. "Yes, you do."


	4. Enemies

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Four**

**Enemies**

Cassie woke Thursday to find the sun cresting in the cold, clear sky. Pushing herself up from the tangle of blankets, she yawned and stretched lazily. For the first time in six weeks, she had gotten a full night's sleep. Crashing back down into the fluffy pillow, she snagged the pager from her bedside table. No emergencies.

"It's a miracle!"

Homer yawned a growl, his pink tongue curling and his forelegs slipping over the comforter. Cassie scratched his ears and labored out of bed. Not accustomed to so much sleep, she felt a little groggy still as she helped her dog to the floor. He was too old to jump off anymore. Sleepy dog and owner padded their way through Cassie's childhood home towards the kitchen door.

The house remained exactly as Janet Fraiser had left it on the day she rushed out the door with a quick 'I love you' and never returned again. All warm and open, in contrast to the dark and enclosed SGC infirmary, with bright splashes of artwork on the walls and Cassie's sports trophies displayed proudly. Only a layer of dust indicated that Cassie, not Janet, kept this house now.

Photographs of Cassie age twelve to eighteen decorated the mantle with scattered images of Janet's friends dotted here and there. Only one had ever been moved: an affectionate snapshot of Janet and Daniel slid to the back of the bunch for Daniel's sake as much Vala's. One item had been added to the mantle: a triangular case displaying the American flag given to Cassie at her mom's funeral.

"Go," Cassie said, nudging Homer outside with her foot.

She left the door open for him to come back inside while she moved around the kitchen gathering breakfast, or lunch depending on the definition, from the refrigerator and pantry. The mostly bare shelves frowned at Cassie. In addition to prepping for her psychiatry clerkship, mapping alien genomes, and searching for any signs of a Captain Beyash, she also needed to go grocery shopping.

After an eclectic meal of microwaveable sausage patties, fruit cocktail, and instant mashed potatoes, Cassie grabbed a shower, and then changed into khakis and a t-shirt. Homer tried to follow her out the front door, and she felt a stab of regret. He had to spend so much time alone with the long hours she worked.

"I'll be back early today, I promise. Sam and Vala are coming back too."

The house was not five minutes away from the SGC. Janet had chosen the house for that very reason. In case of medical emergencies, she didn't lose valuable time. By the time Cassie stepped out of the second elevator into the SGC, her watch read 1:07. Thirty minutes from front door to infirmary. Had security expedited the process for Major Fraiser? Or had her diminutive mother's personality been a force to be reckoned with? The latter, most likely.

"Welcome to the land of the living," Carolyn teased. "Not that I blame you for sleeping in."

"I would blame Vala for keeping me up late, but … I always stay up that late. I assume SG-1 is already off world?"

"They have been for … six hours."

Cassie grinned sheepishly. Lieutenant Piers, one of her favorite nurses, called Carolyn away to check on Sergeant Silar's condition, and Cassie ambled out of the infirmary and to the biology lab down the hall. She hopped onto a stool at the far computer terminal and logged in.

She was meant to be working up a full physiological profile of the humans on P3G-344 and, if she had time, starting on their genome. And she would do that, Cassie reasoned, just as soon as she ran a few search queries on one Captain Beyash.

The first search turned up no results. Frowning, Cassie double checked that she had searched the personnel database. She had. Curious to know if the database listed Home World Command personnel, she typed in _O'Neill, Jonathan_. Jack's file popped up immediately.

"So, what about scientists?" she murmured.

Marco's father might have retired from the Air Force at the rank of Captain. Or he might have been in a foreign military, she thought, recalling Marco's accent. Again, no results returned. To double check her work, she looked up Rodney McKay's file.

"So … civilian contractor?"

The blaring klaxons gave Cassie a moment's pause. A voice declared it an unscheduled incoming wormhole. Whatever security clearance she had, she was pretty damn sure it did not permit her anywhere near the Stargate in these circumstance. She stayed put, trying to block out the wailing sirens.

Extending the search parameters to the entire database, Cassie hit the enter key. The computer whirred while it scrambled to find the name Beyash in any personnel files, mission reports, or internal memos. Cassie didn't have permission to see the purchase requisitions or she would have searched those too.

Cassie had time to see that _Beyash_ showed up only once in the entire SGC database, and then the voice that had announced the unscheduled wormhole cried over the screaming klaxons, "Medical team to the gate room!" Instinct forced her to leap up from the stool, but then she remembered she wasn't at the university hospital, and she didn't have any business getting in the way of Dr. Lam's team. Cassie had just returned to her seat when an explosion rocked the concrete beneath her feet. The glass specimen jars rattled violently, and a precariously perched blood culture tottered and smashed against the floor.

Without another moment's hesitation, Cassie bolted out of the biology lab. Nurses flooded out of the infirmary, but no stretches arrived. She feared the worst. Not concerned with security clearance right now, she raced through the corridors and into the gate room.

The wormhole had disengaged already, and only the Stargate itself looked undamaged. Scourge marks painted the blast doors black, and thick smoke clogged the air. The glass in the control room and conference room windows had blown. Bodies lay around and on the ramp. Cassie recognized one of the fallen as Alex Donovan, a medic with SG-8, and –

"_Daniel!_"

No one heard her cry out in the chaos. She nearly ran to him, though it would have required leaping over bloody bodies to get there, but a voice in her head screamed _Triage!_ and a real voice, belonging Teal'c, called, "Cassandra Fraiser! Vala Mal Doran requires medical attention!"

Tearing her eyes away from Daniel's prone form, Cassie found Teal'c staring at her from ten feet away. She hurried over to examine Vala, who had a gushing head wound. Retrieving a pair of gloves from a nurse's medical kit, Cassie began gently probing for the source of the bleeding.

"What happened, Teal'c?"

"SG-8 and many medical personnel were on the planet called Castelle by the inhabitants, P99-024. The Castelleans had told SG-11 of their many ailments, and in exchange for setting up a research post on their planet, we agreed to send them doctors and medicines. Yesterday, Dr. Conner reported the locals acting strangely, and SG-1 went as scheduled to investigate the situation. We were attacked by –"

"Skip to the part where Vala got hurt!"

"We evacuated SG-8 and the medical personnel, but took heavy fire. Colonel Mitchell was shot in the leg, and Vala Mal Doran went back to help him to the Stargate. I had already come through to the SGC. I do not know what happened on the planet, but moments after Vala Mal Doran and Colonel Mitchell arrived, there was an explosion. She was thrown from the ramp."

Cassie's fingers located the wound. The gash was deep, but without shrapnel or broken skull fragments protruding. She instructed Teal'c to find gauze and packed Vala's wound. _Triage!_ the voice in her head screamed again. There was nothing more she could do for Vala at the moment. Others might be more injured, and after Teal'c's story, Cassie had a sinking feeling that most of the patients were going to be doctors.

"Stay with her, Teal'c. Keep pressure on the wound, and call me if it the bleeding gets any worse."

"I will do as you say."

Cassie hardly heard Teal'c. She was moving onto the next patient, stripping off the blue gloves covered in Vala's blood and pulling on a fresh pair. She saw Cameron limping down the ramp, his leg bloody and his face ashen.

"Sit down, Cam," she ordered.

"Don't you even think about trying to help me right now, Cassie," he argued.

"We have worse than bullets here. But unless you _sit down_ you're going to lose more blood and end up a critical patient. If you've failed to notice, we're more than a few doctors short right now."

"Rosales," Cam groaned, pointing at the SG-8 CO some fifteen feet away. Rosales's torso twisted at an impossible angle. If the Colonel's back wasn't broken, Cassie was an Asgard.

It felt like hours passed in the demolished gate room. At some point, bright beams momentarily eschewed the black burns on the concrete and four doctors and a team of medics from the orbiting _George Hammond_ appeared with medical kits. Cassie moved between patients. The walking wounded had orders to report to the auxiliary infirmary. Nurses escorted stretchers carrying the more seriously injured patients. From time to time, one of the few doctors disappeared into the OR with a critical case.

"Dr. Fraiser."

Cassie sent a medic with a bloody arm off to the auxiliary infirmary and turned to see that the gate room had been cleared. Somehow, someway, they had tamed the chaos. General Landry had a makeshift bandage tied around his head obscuring his right eye. She felt a dizzy sensation, like she'd so often felt just before a teacher scolded her.

"I'm not supposed to be here, I know."

Landry flapped is hand at her. "Time for that later. For now, Dr. Lam wants you in the auxiliary infirmary patching up the walking wounded. And when you're done with that, she says there are surgeries that could use another doctor assisting."

"Yes, sir. If I can ask …"

"Twenty-five people were in the gate room and six more in the control room," Landry said, "Seven are in surgery. Two didn't make it. The rest are waiting for you in auxiliary."

Cassie heard the bite of impatience in his voice, but she pushed her luck just a little farther. "You should come with me to the get your wound stitched up."

"See to my people first, doctor."

"Yes, sir."

Jogging through the familiar halls of the SGC covered in blood and grime felt surreal, like she had transformed into another person entirely. Drowning in this emergent situation –something Cassie had trained for during her emergency medicine clerkship, but never actually done – dredged up old memories of black-marked bodies succumbing to horrific infections. And yet, unlike that time, she felt the confidence that comes with knowledge and skill.

When she arrived at the auxiliary infirmary, it looked like she'd stumbled into an episode of _MacGyver_. The scientists had consigned themselves to the beds and chairs like they were supposed to. The airmen and marines, however, were climbing walls and inventing idiotic ways to patch themselves up.

"Corporal," Cassie snapped. "That is for use with a _defibrillator_! It's not a bandage. And don't you dare staple your own wound closed, Captain!"

With a medical doctor now in the room, some semblance of order returned, if only for a moment. Everyone shouted questions that Cassie couldn't hear, much less answer. Many people hung back, confused because they didn't know her and she wasn't wearing a uniform, scrubs, or lab coat.

"Is there anyone here completely uninjured?"

Every airman and marine in the room raised his or her hand. They dropped slowly when Teal'c strode forward, his very presence casting a sense of calm around the room. It was hard to believe any danger could reach this room with Teal'c present.

"I remain unharmed. How would you like me to assist you?"

With Teal'c's help, Cassie did another round of triage. Most of the walking wounded had only superficial cuts and bruises. She applied a number of bandages and sutured a variety of wounds. When the final patient was sent back to quarters, she dared to look at the clock. Five hours had disappeared since she'd searched for Marco Beyash's father in the SGC database.

"I have to go assist with surgeries, Teal'c. Thank you for helping. You should go back to quarters and rest."

"I will accompany you as far as the infirmary. I wish to check on the condition of SG-1," the Jaffa objected.

"Of course. I'll be there in spirit."

After a tour of the observation rooms and speaking to Carolyn, Cassie determined that she could do the most help in Colonel Rosales's surgery. In the time she had been patching up patients in the auxiliary, more doctors had been called in. She had scrubbed in and taken over the clamps when Teal'c appeared in the observation room. With a nod and a ghostly smile, he eased Cassie's worry. Vala, Daniel, and Cam were not in critical condition.

Carolyn declared the first of Rosales's surgeries over five hours after Cassie entered the OR. Her legs and back cried out in protest. A cramp had seized her right forearm. But Cassie had no cause to complain, so she stretched her weary muscles in silence.

After scrubbing out, she made a beeline for the infirmary. Vala, Cam, and Daniel lay in consecutive beds. Vala and Daniel lay stilly, only sleeping according to the monitors by their heads. Cassie couldn't keep herself from riffling through their charts. Vala had a subdural hematoma and her wound had required thirty-seven stitches, but she would make a full recovery. Daniel had been hit with the heat blast of the bomb and suffered internal bleeding, but he would also be okay.

"Nice sigh of relief," Cam said, barely managing to keep the grin off his face. "I noticed you don't seem too concerned about me."

"I just don't like you as much," she deadpanned, and then lifted his chart from the foot of the bed. "A clean GSW, no broken bone. Lucky you."

"Ain't that the truth."

He glanced sidelong at Vala, and Cassie could guess what had happened. They'd come through the gate together, Cam slightly in front. Then the bomb thrown from the other side materialized, and Vala took the brunt of the blast. It wasn't his fault, but she steered well clear of the subject anyway.

"Teal'c told me what happened, but I made him fast-forward through parts. Who attacked you? Was it Lucian Alliance?"

"That might be classified."

Cassie gave a dry laugh. "I have clearance. Not as high as yours, but it's high enough to know who our enemies are. It's a perk of meeting a time-traveling SG-1 sometime in the far future when I'm a big-wig at Stargate Command."

"Well, in that case," Cam retorted dryly. "Yeah, it was Lucian Alliance. The whole thing was a set up. Apparently, drug runners and thieves – aka our pals in the Lucian Alliance – are running low on doctors. They thought they'd grab a couple of ours. Then SG-1 showed up, and they decided if they can't have 'em, neither can we."

"That's classified information, Colonel."

General Landry hadn't come to the auxiliary sick bay to have his wound looked at, but someone must have forced him onto a gurney at some point because the makeshift bandage had been replaced with fresh white gauze.

"She told me she had clearance!"

"She does." The barest hint of a laugh entered the General's voice, and Cam relaxed with chagrin written all over his face.

"I know, I know. Don't ever go near the gate room again without authorization."

"You keep thinking I'm going to scold you." The General frowned at Cassie. "We don't make you stay away from the Stargate because we don't trust you. We make you stay away because we can't be sure that Goa'uld device won't start growing again."

Cassie paled, and a hand flew to her chest. She had only travelled through the Stargate once, on that day thirteen years ago when she donned a hazmat suit and held hands with Sam and Daniel.

"The x-ray showed the device dissolved and was absorbed into my bloodstream." She sounded defensive.

"Yes, and how did it form in the first place?"

The bitter taste of bile rose in Cassie's throat. If the General's suggestion proved true, then Nirrti had inflicted yet another burden on her. If she could never travel by Stargate, she could never leave Earth. She might be a part of Stargate Command in the future, but not in the way she'd always dreamed. The only way to ever know for certain was to take a gamble and walk through the event horizon. No one would ever allow her to do that.

Cassie felt claustrophobia descend on her, constricting her breathing and bowing her shoulders. She had a whole planet to call home, but it might as well have been a prison cell. Earth was home, but home was out _there_ too.

"Good work today, Dr. Fraiser."

After General Landry left, Cam leaned forward in the bed and placed a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "You ran toward an explosion today, Cassie. You risked your life to save others. That says something about you."


	5. Savarna

**Author's Note:** In writing this chapter, I have come across a slight continuity problem. _Savarna_ is supposed to take place during Season 7 of SG-1. However, in the audio drama, Janet tells Luca that Cassie is 13. This is definitely not right. Cassie is 18 during Season 7, and when she was 13, Earth didn't have spaceships. It doesn't quite work to make Cassie 18 and Marco 9. The age gap is too wide for this story. I ask that you pretend Marco was 13 during _Savarna_, and Janet told Luca Cassie was 18. Ages and dates are not as important as the characters' journeys in the years between _Savarna_ and this story.

o o o

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Five**

**Savarna**

A full thirty-six hours passed before Cassie returned to the computer terminal where she had searched for Marco Beyash's father before the Lucian Alliance bombed the gate room.

Girls' night had been cancelled with Cassie needed in the infirmary and Sam on high alert aboard the _George Hammond_. Such was the magnitude of the attack that Jack had beamed in from Washington to see the damage first hand. She'd had no time to catch up with him, though. Patients rotated through the infirmary, and the senior officers locked themselves in the conference room.

Bill Lee had been cajoled into letting his youngest child dog-sit Homer for the night. The few hours blocked for Cassie to sleep she spent curled up in the chair between Daniel and Vala's beds. Daniel had woken up twelve hours after the attack full of questions which Cassie had tried to answer, but Vala remained asleep most hours of the day. Cassie might have stationed herself permanently between the beds except Carolyn deemed the infirmary overcrowded and limited visitors to a schedule of set hours.

With a wide yawn and watery eyes, Cassie brought the computer to life from its screen saver and found that the database had logged her off for inactivity. She signed in and hastily repeated the only query that had given her any results. The single entry winked at her like a flirtatious boy who would lead her into trouble. The urge to know the truth overpowered any other thought, and she double clicked the line reading _Mission Reports 60281_. A new screen opened to a list of participants who had submitted reports. Among the names, she spotted Jack's and –

"Mom."

Cassie's breath caught and iron bands constricted around her heart. It took half a minute to realize the tears clogging her vision had nothing to do with weariness. Breathing heavily to fight back the sudden surge of emotion, she double clicked _Fraiser, Maj. Dr. Janet_. The temptation to do a Ctrl + F for 'Beyash' was great, but still greater was Cassie's desire to read her mother's words.

_We arrived on Lemora a week after departing Earth. The situation on the ground was exactly as SG-3 had reported it. The nation of Percivia was close to developing space flight, but the other country on the continent, Vallini, suffered from abject poverty and widespread illness. Along with SG-8 and a team of medics from _Prometheus_, I went to Vallini to set up clinics._

Reading the report written in her mom's own words touched something deep in Cassie. It was like sharing a room with the woman who had loved and cared for her for seven years. Almost, she could hear her mom's voice speaking into her mind. Cassie had nearly forgotten what that voice sounded like.

Eyes fixed on the computer screen, Cassie read about the three weeks of work her mom had done with the people of Vallini. She had set up many clinics and trained whoever passed for a doctor in the impoverished place in better practices. As a doctor herself, Cassie could imagine the tremendous task her mom had undertaken.

_General Hammond recalled part of our team then to return to the SGC. I arrived on board _Prometheus_, and two hours later Colonel Ronson announced we would be departing at 1400 hours. That's when Prometheus was attacked. _

Cassie picked up the pace of her reading. Her mom had been kidnapped from _Prometheus_ by a man from Lemora who not only had a weapons capable spaceship, but a beam-like transporter device. Of course, since Ronson thought no one on Lemora had anything remotely like that yet, the Earth ship hadn't been shielded.

_I was taken to a small infirmary where a child, about twelve or thirteen years old, lay in a semi-conscious state. Upon examination, I determined that he had been burned on the thigh by an energy weapon and had a hematoma. He was dangerously close to sepsis, but the Captain would not take the boy to a hospital._

_The Captain eventually told me his name was Luca Beyash. I learned much later that the boy I had been brought to the _Savarna_ to save was his son, Marco._

The world tilted and whirled, and Cassie gripped the edge of the stainless steel terminal so hard her fingers throbbed. The puzzle pieces fell together. The combination tomato/potato slicer wasn't ingenious; Marco had meant the _television_. His father captained a _space_ship.

And all those searching looks …. Had Marco come to Earth looking for her mom? His appraising gazes trying to find some physical similarly to prove _this_ Dr. Fraiser was the daughter of _that_ Dr. Fraiser? The look he gave when Cassie had informed him of her mother's passing – not just a renewed sense of loss over his own mother, but genuine remorse for the death of the woman who had saved his life.

"Something in common," she whispered, echoing Marco's comment.

Reading the rest of the report in a feverish rush, Cassie learned about how her mom had come to like Luca and the crew. She had done her duty as a USAF officer and contacted _Prometheus_, however. Jack had given her orders to bring Luca to the Earth ship which she had done by assuring him it was the only way Marco could be saved. And she read how later her mom had disobeyed a direct order. She helped Luca escape custody and transport off _Prometheus_ with Marco.

Dr. Janet Fraiser was too professional to include it in the official mission report, but Cassie read the unwritten thoughts. She had been eighteen-years-old at the time. Just two years previous, she had lain in a hospital bed coming closer and closer to transforming into something superhuman – or inhuman, since Nirrti would have taken her as a host. Seeing Marco near death in a hospital bed …. As a parent who had done anything to save her daughter, she had understood Luca.

Something else she didn't include in the report, but what Cassie guessed at, was Jack's eventual support of her decision to disobey his orders once he knew all the facts. A boy shot by accident, possibly by his father's own weapon ….

_Before he transported off _Prometheus_, Luca asked me to return to the _Savarna _with him and Marco. He assured me his ship could reach Earth and my daughter Cassandra would be welcomed among the crew._

Cassie's eyes flew to the date of the report again. A hallow sort of feeling settled in the pit of her stomach and sent her heart beating an irregular tattoo against her breastbone. Three weeks after that offer, Janet Fraiser died. Three weeks they could have been on board the _Savarna_ – far away from Ancient ruins and Jaffa staff weapons. Just three weeks.

How long she sat there in a shell-shocked trance, Cassie didn't know. Eventually, she roused herself and powered down the computer. She left the SGC on autopilot, not truly seeing or hearing anything around her. Another bomb might have gone off in the gate room and she wouldn't have noticed.

o o o

When Cassie arrived home, Homer barked half-heartedly, but didn't bother to struggle to his feet. Only when she changed into pajamas and parked herself on the couch in front of a re-airing of the _Wormhole X-Treme_ pilot did the dog join her. Cassie scratched his ears, and his tail thumped vigorously against the couch cushions.

"Quite a day, Homer." He whined, as if to agree with his owner.

Cassie felt so overwhelmed with information she didn't know which she should care about more: Daniel being released from the infirmary in the morning, Vala's slow recovery, the Lucien Alliance going after doctors, Marco Beyash being an alien, or what life on the _Savarna_ might have been like.

Lifting the remote control, Cassie silenced the program in the middle of a scientifically impossible solution to the team's problem of the week. Scooping up Homer, she trudged into her old bedroom and crashed into the comforter. Sleep did not come until she swallowed a sleeping pill at two in the morning.

o o o

Saturday broke the string of beautiful Colorado Spring days. A distant roll of thunder and tapping raindrops roused Cassie from a blissfully blank sleep. The clock by the bed declared the time 7:03.

"Up, Homey. We've got a big day today."

Sleep had cleared Cassie's mind. The possibility that her mom might still be alive, traveling the stars, if she had only said 'yes' to Luca's offer ached deep within Cassie. The thought would never stop throbbing. Alongside angry teenage vitriol and regrets, it would stay forever, fused to Cassie's conscious.

But equally present was her resolution – made on the day she was presented with the flag that had draped her mom's coffin – to never again betray anyone she loved either with harsh words or actions.

She had to tell Jack an unauthorized alien was on Earth. The thought of losing touch with Marco – or more precisely, someone _like her_ – pained Cassie almost as much as lost possibilities. Although she felt certain Marco meant no harm to Earth or anyone living on the planet, she knew Home World Command would not see it the same way.

Back at the SGC, Cassie first went to General Landry's office, only to find that the Generals had again barricaded themselves in conference. She went in search of Sergeant Harriman, now Jack's executive officer, and found him in the commissary.

"Hello, Walter – _Sergeant_. Will you tell Jack – _General O'Neill_ – that I need to speak with him sometime before one o'clock?"

Walter passed her a truly empathetic smile that reminded Cassie why everyone had always liked the former gate technician. "I'll make sure he knows, but … I'm sorry, Cassie. I'm not sure General O'Neill has personal time today."

"This isn't personal," Cassie assured him. "It's … a matter of national security."

The Sergeant's eyebrows rose, as if to ask if Cassie understood using that phrase as a pretext was frowned upon in the armed forces. She didn't reply, but instead picked her way through the doubly crowded hallways – only one of the signs that the base was on high alert – to the infirmary.

Daniel had already been discharged, and he now occupied the chair Cassie had claimed during her visits. Still groggy, but awake, Vala half-heartedly shooed him away from her bedside.

Another wave of possibilities crashed against Cassie. What could Daniel have been to her if her mom had lived? Or would Vala's arrival have changed that anyway? It didn't do to dwell, and yet Cassie felt the past was a living thing. Like a desperate creature in its death thralls, it clung to her relentlessly.

"Morning, Daniel. Vala. Good to see you both awake."

Cassie had little time for greetings, which the others acknowledged by keeping the conversation short. Two of Cassie's patients had already arrived to have their bandages changed, hopefully for the last time. The SGC and _George Hammond_ surgeons still had full schedules of surgeries and consultations. None of it made easier by the fact that so many of their patients were fellow doctors, all of whom seemed to want to assist in their own care.

At a quarter to twelve, Walter Harriman appeared.

"General O'Neill will be finishing up a meeting with SG-9 in fifteen minutes. He has twenty minutes to eat lunch before beaming back to Washington for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs."

"I'll be in the commissary in fifteen," Cassie promised. Something about Walter's expression made her wonder if Jack had tried to push back the Joint Chiefs. He'd done it before, she knew, and for less reasons than lunch.

After she finished removing the stitches from Siler's forearm – and injury totally unrelated to the bombing – Cassie popped her head in Carolyn's office to say she wouldn't be back for a few hours.

"What …?" Carolyn looked baffled. "You are not seriously here again! Have you even started prepping for your psychiatry clerkship? You start in two days. Don't come back. At all."

With the scolding fresh in mind, Cassie went to meet Jack in the commissary. She was pleased to see Sam had beamed down from orbit or had been in the meeting with the Generals and would be joining them for lunch. After a round of hugs, they settled into their chairs.

_Like a happy, intergalactic family_, Cassie mused.

"So … a matter of national security, huh?" Jack chortled. He picked up a plastic cup of blue jell-o and considered it before taking a bite. "Nice line. Harriman really bought it."

Cassie could have eased into the topic, but ...

"There's an unsupervised alien on Earth. He's walking around Denver and Colorado Springs totally off the radar."

Jack choked on his jell-o and shot Cassie a look caught between annoyance and approval. "I already said 'nice line', Cassie."

"Not joking."

There was silence for a beat. Jack nodded once, and Sam took up the explanation. "There are a lot of aliens on Earth who shouldn't be here. The Lucian Alliance has found ways around every measure we've taken to keep them off world. The thing is … not many people who've figured out they're aliens come back to tell us about it, if you get my drift."

"I don't think he's Lucian Alliance." Cassie had no basis for that statement, except that Marco seemed like a good person and the bastards who bombed the gate room did not. "He's just another human from one of the bazillion Goa'uld colony planets in the galaxy."

"You're sure?"

Cassie nodded in Sam's direction while Jack recovered his breath and pushed away the jell-o cup. He fixed her with a steady gaze, not unlike the semi-annoyed glares he tossed so casually in Daniel's direction.

"And you came to us," he motioned between himself and Sam, "instead of going straight to Landry because …?"

"Because I want you to let him stay or go home, whichever he chooses." Cassie didn't miss the silent exchange happening across the table from her.

"So you've gotten to know this alien?" Sam asked, shrewdly.

Cassie started to answer, but stopped herself three times. That summed up anything she had to say on the matter enough for Jack to not need an affirmative.

"You know we can't do that, Cassie. I can count on one hand the number of aliens we've let 'walk around totally off the radar.' Hell, even alien members of SG-1 don't get that right immediately."

"One hand, really?" she returned.

Jack held up four fingers, "You. Teal'c. Vala. Marty."

Cassie knew then that the argument was lost and any further protests would only serve to irritate Jack. "But he can go home? It's not just a cell in Area 51 or 'guest quarters' in the SGC?"

"If he's really not Lucian Alliance," Sam began, glancing at Jack for approval, "and he hasn't done anything wrong except land his ship on Earth …."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Jack conceded. "But he has to go through a debriefing first."

"And we should assign Cassie a tail, sir." At Jack's inquisitive look, she explained, "I heard through the grapevine –"

"Meaning Vala," Cassie muttered.

" – that Cassie has a date this afternoon. I'm guessing our alien is the boy in question."

"Harriman, tell Landry I need SGs-2, -3, -4, and Teal'c …" At Sam's withering look, Jack amended his orders. "Teal'c and Mitchell, if he's back on his feet, Reynolds or Dixon if he's not, to tail Cassie this afternoon."

Walter glanced between Jack, Sam, and Cassie fish-mouthed for a moment, then nodded briskly and hurried off to see the orders carried out.

Cassie doubted Marco would have chosen to stay on Earth anyway. Her mom's mission report had called his people Kaldarri – a kind of gypsy culture. At the very least, she had saved him from an underground prison of gray concrete, which she imagined would be the worst kind of torture for a man who lived among the stars.

And she had bought herself one more afternoon with Marco.


	6. Orbit

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Six**

**Orbit**

Cassie arrived on the surface to find the stormy morning had given way to a humid, dreary day. Patchy sunlight cast intermittent light on the ground and shot the sky with a wide rainbow.

She drove home with the surveillance plan bouncing around her head. With a bandana tied around his head, Teal'c would be posing as the gardener and keeping an eye on Cassie and Marco through the dining room windows. Cam would be manning the audio equipment from the white van reading _J & S Landscaping_ parked in front of the house.

With bugs and cameras in the house, this would be no date or even a casual chat. Cassie had her marching orders: tell Marco he'd been made and show him the back door … where a team of marines would be waiting to escort him back to the SGC for his debriefing.

The installation crew had already arrived by the time Cassie walked through the front door. Homer cowered in the corner, either frightened by the strangers in his house or ashamed that his old bones didn't allow him to run them off.

"Won't this be fun, Homey? Just you, me, Marco, and half the SGC. It'll be like reality television verses the armed forces. And that's a really, really pleasant thought." The dog missed the sarcastic bite in her voice, but one of the installation guys laughed.

After seeing the crew out, Cassie went to get ready for her not-date. Paranoid about hidden cameras, she changed out of her scrubs in the bathtub with the shower curtain drawn. She didn't bother with any of the other pre-date rituals like jewelry or make-up. She had instructions to keep the not-date short and to the point or the marines would barge in and break it up.

Marco knocked on the door at five after one, either ignoring the doorbell or not knowing the purpose of the little white button. Cassie imagined Cam's voice repeating _Showtime!_ through ten earpieces as she opened the door.

"Afternoon, Cassie," Marco began, in that not-quite-Irish accent of his that she now recognized as Vallinnian – _alien_. "You look very nice today."

"Hi, Marco. Thank you. Come in."

She stood aside and let him enter the house. He'd made some attempt to clean up, Cassie noted. His eclectic clothing still gave him the look of an Old World gypsy, but there were less frayed edges and all the rips had been carefully darned.

Marco stepped on the carpet tentatively, his black eyes darting around almost furtively. For a moment, she feared he knew cameras were watching, but his gaze had fallen on the pictures over the mantle. He approached slowly, and she decided it wasn't worth the pretense of feigning that she needed to finish getting ready and retreating into the back of the house for a few moments. He'd fallen into the trap she'd arranged – all the photos of her mother – the things that would spark a conversation of epic proportions.

"This is your mother, then?"

"Yes, her name was Janet." She wanted him to confess the whole story right then, but he didn't. "And your mother's name was Savarna?"

Marco nodded, a million miles – light-years – away and picked up the delicate silver frame holding a photograph of Janet, Cassie, and Homer. Sam's finger was just visible in the upper right corner. Marco didn't realize he'd never told Cassie his mother's name.

"And your father named his ship after her. So … is the _Savarna_ in orbit over Earth or did you manage to land somewhere on the planet?"

Marco's head snapped up, and the frame slipped a few inches. He looked like a cornered animal or a child caught misbehaving. Then the moment passed and a slow smile spread across his lips.

"I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later, but you really had me going, Cassie. You didn't let on at all at the hospital."

"That only proves I'm either too subtle or you're remarkably obtuse."

Marco laughed. "Did your mother tell you about her adventure with the Kaldarri? Or am I so alien you couldn't help but notice?"

"A little of both … in a matter of speaking." Cassie summarized the past week, leaving out any classified information, like the Lucian Alliance attack on the SGC. Or the fact that there was an SGC. "You didn't use an alias or anything, so I figured you didn't mind if I knew …"

"No, not at all." Marco glanced down at the photograph again. "I suppose you've worked out that I came to Earth to meet your mother. I was mostly unconscious while she was on our ship, and it's hard to say 'thank you' in that state. And … well, you can't live on the _Savarna_ without hearing tales of the heroic Earth doctor who saved us all."

Tears pricked at the back of Cassie's eyes. She turned her back on Marco, pretending to straighten another cluster of picture frames on the trestle table behind the couch. Her fingers found the picture of herself, twelve-years-old, on a swing.

"After six years, those stories are probably feeling a little dusty. Here's a fresh one for you to tell the crew …. Not long after Earth started using the Stargate to explore other planets, they found one called Hanka where they set up a research post to observe a singularity …"

When Cassie finished telling Marco about Nirrti's bomb and genetic experiments, how she'd been orphaned on Hanka and found a home on Earth, with shaking hands she put down the picture with a faint _clink_ of metal on glass and turned around.

"So you're an alien too," Marco stated simply.

Cassie thought she saw the same hopeful gleam in his dark eyes as she felt. They hovered across the living room like binary suns sharing so much in common, yet pushed apart by tidal forces.

"Yes. I'm one of the few aliens who are allowed to walk free on Earth." She swallowed thickly. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about –"

"And you've been stuck on Earth for thirteen years?" He whistled. "I don't know if I could stand that. Kaldarri, we're not made for living planet-side. We want to see everything _out there_. You know? We've found our place, and it's among the stars themselves."

Cassie felt a dull ache around her chest. More people who knew their places in the galaxy, while she still wondered whether her life on Earth was destiny or luck.

"In fact," Marco went on, not noticing Cassie's pale face, "let me show you what I mean."

It happened before Cassie could protest or the marines could break down the kitchen door. Marco pulled out a strip of some bendable metal as he crossed the room. He snapped the bracelet on her wrist and said "_Execute!_" into an identical device around his own wrist. And then Cassie was gone. She felt her feet leave the floor and a sensation not unlike her solitary trip through the Stargate. Next moment, she collided with a cold, unforgiving metal surface. She felt like she was tottering off a rollercoaster after not being strapped in properly.

"You get used to it after a few trips," Marco said, helping her to her feet.

Now standing, Cassie could see she was in the cargo hold of a spaceship, and if the gold and glyphs were any indication, the ship was a Goa'uld tel'tac. Marco manipulated the keypad, and the doors slid open to reveal the flight controls and beyond …

"Earth," Cassie gasped.

Through the trapezoidal window of the tel'tac a planet of blue and green rose into view. Breath caught in her throat, Cassie stumbled forward and sank weak-kneed into the co-pilot chair. She had dreamed of space and exploration, but the thrill of it overwhelmed anything she had thought she might feel in this moment. Her mind leapt from the planet filling the windows to the solar system, the galaxy, the universe. She thought of Hanka and the thousands of worlds in the Milky Way, of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy, of the _Destiny_ an unimaginable distance from home. The magnitude of it defied comprehension.

"Yeah, it's something," Marco said. With a grin, he took the pilot's chair. "I remember my first look at Lemora from the _Savarna_. It's not as blue and green as Earth. More brown and red. Large deserts."

"I've seen pictures of Earth from space, but …. They don't even begin to …." Cassie laughed. "I'm in _space_!"

"Wonderful, isn't it? And just think, you could spend the rest of your life in space."

Cassie sobered again, remembering General Landry's words. "No. No, I can't. I won't be allowed – "

"Allowed!" Marco sounded outraged, and when she glanced sidelong, she saw splotches of color on his cheeks. "What do you mean 'allowed'? No one can take away your right to go where you want."

Her eyebrows soared. "Oh? And where did you get that assumption? The people of Earth don't get that choice. We have to have permission to go off world. I don't have it. I probably never will."

Marco sputtered. "You can't authorize a basic human right. Unless you've done something wrong – and you haven't, have you? – no one can stop you from going where you please."

"Maybe on Lemora, but it doesn't work like that on Earth. The people of Earth don't know about the Stargate or life in the universe."

"But you do. And anyway, you're not _of_ Earth. You're of Hanka. The Stargates and space travel, they're your birthright. All of us enslaved by the Goa'uld have earned our freedom with blood – ours and our ancestors'."

Cassie cocked a bittersweet smile in his direction. He was right … and wrong. "You sound like the Lucian Alliance."

"Bah. Pirates posing as philosophers." He flapped a hand at her. "They're always bothering the Kaldarri, wanting us to join them. They just want our ships. That's where I got this tel'tac, though … stole it from one of their shipyards." Marco laughed. "But I put it to better use than they would have."

Cassie's attention strayed to the view out the window. The tel'tac had drifted, or else Marco intentionally steered the ship, so that a star field appeared beside Earth. She wondered if some other alien refugee on a distant planet orbiting one of those suns gazed at Earth at this moment.

"But I was saying, Cassie, you can have this view every day for as long as you want. With the Kaldarri." She did a double take, and Marco went on. "My father, he offered your mother a place on our ship. He always meant for you to join us too. She said no, but you have your own decision to make."

Cassie stared, open-mouthed for several beats. "We met six days ago. You can't seriously …"

"I can seriously. It's part of the reason I came to Earth. To thank your mother and to make the offer again. We all think very highly of her. We know what we lost when she decided to stay with your Earth military. Even though she's gone, you're still here, and my father promised you a place on the _Savarna_ as much as he did your mother. It's yours, if you want it."

Eyes drawn by the brightness of Earth, Cassie stared down at the amorphous landmass obscured by clouds. She felt the pull of opportunity – adventure, exploration, space – everything she'd ever dreamed of experiencing, but would never have at Stargate Command. She almost said yes then and there. But then she thought of Sam and Jack, how they were the closest thing she would have to parents for the rest of her life; Daniel and Vala saved only by the prodigious skill of a team of doctors; and her own incomplete intern year. Patients called her Dr. Fraiser, but it wasn't official for six more weeks and a pass on one monstrous test. If she gave in to dreams now, how many hundreds might die because the AMA never certified her to hold a scalpel, to administer drugs, to research pathogens?

Cassie's answer showed on her face, and Marco bravely hitched a smile into place.

"If this is to be your only trip in space, then let's make it singular, shall we?"

With that, Marco placed both hands on the glowing red flight controls and turned the tel'tac about. Cassie peered out the window, expecting Marco to fly around the planet. The _George Hammond_ would be orbiting somewhere close by. She smiled at the thought of waving to Sam and the flight crew.

"Engaging hyperdrive."

"What?" Cassie shouted, whipping around.

Next moment, Earth and the twinkling starfield disappeared, replaced by the blue tunnel of hyperspace. She meant to yell at him, maybe even hit him, but the words died in her throat. Hyperspace. Sam had explained it to her. The ship traveled so fast the stars themselves looked blurred.

"Why is it blue?"

Marco laughed. "Damned if I know. Kaldarri ships don't have hyperdrive engines. We use regular sublight engines to get from place to place. It's one of the reasons I had to borrow this tel'tac. Our engineers calculated it would take me nine hundred years to get to get to Earth with our ships. And since I didn't have that kind of time …"

"So where are we going?"

Cassie felt excitement bubbling up despite herself. She imagined planets full of sulfur-breathing lizards and telepathic incorporeal entities and transplanted human civilizations.

"Well, since I don't imagine you have all the time in the world, I thought we'd make it someplace close so we can have you back to Earth before you start your new assignment at the hospital."

"Speaking of the hospital." She noticed he still had the air cast around his injured foot and calf. "You came to Earth looking for my mom, and then … what? … stumbled into her daughter?"

The abashed look Marco wore made him appear younger than ever, like she gazed through time at the boy her mom had saved six years ago.

"Well, no. I should start from the beginning." He took a breath and fiddled with the hem of his tunic. "It's not easy to find Earth, first of all. I only got the coordinates because I stole this ship – they're programmed in every Lucian Alliance vessel, by the way. Imagine my position when I got the Earth. _Billions_ of people spread out over half a dozen continents. I had no idea where to look.

"I did the only think I could – I picked randomly. The transporter helps, although it's murder on the shins. That's how I got the fractures. Feet slamming down on the deck too often. We've got softer landing sites on our ships. Anyway. It took me a long while to figure out your computer systems, but once I did …. Easy as crash landing.

"Of course, your Stargate program being secret still, there was nothing I could find about your mother. But you – there were all kinds of things about you, Cassie. Your high school yearbook archives, academic achievement lists, telephone directories, hospital personnel records. Not to mention how people of Earth plaster themselves all over the Internet. By the way … Canada, I ask you? Your Facebook profile sent me on a wild goose chase."

Cassie bit back a laugh. An alien Internet-stalking her should have been disturbing, but told with Marco's genial smile and soothing accent, it seemed almost endearing. And the reason for his behavior – to find and thank her mom – even more so.

"When I finally tacked you down at the University of Colorado, I thought it'd be the perfect time to see a doctor about my foot."

"But you didn't tell me who you were or why you'd come."

"When you didn't recognize my name, I figured your mother didn't share her off world adventures with you. And that made sense to me. What kind of parent tells their child about all the times they nearly died?"

"You were never going to tell me?"

"I was going to find her by following you." He offered an apologetic smile. "Then you told me she died, and I didn't see why I should dredge up old memories when you'd come to terms with it."

"That was kind of you, Marco."

He grinned. "A trait inherited from my mother."

The console dinged to alert Marco they were approaching a planet. The Goa'uld writing was familiar to Cassie, but she had not spoken it for thirteen years. It was a different dialect than the one used on Hanka as well, and she couldn't make out the name of the planet.

From space, the planet looked like a clot of sand. Through patchy white atmosphere, the land looked scabbed and void. The ship systems swept the surface, and Marco made a disappointed noise.

"I was hoping Earth's neighbor might be a little more impressive. I thought we'd have a walk through an alien village, at the very least."

Cassie's heart leapt. "Earth's neighbor? This planet is the closest one to Earth? You're sure?"

Marco nodded. "Like I said, I didn't figure you had time to see someplace really great like Hebridan."

She looked back at the Goa'uld on the console and mouthed the sounds like a child first learning to read. Slowly, her native language formed a familiar word.

"Abydos."


	7. Genesis

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Seven**

**Genesis**

"Let's go."

Cassie leapt from the co-pilot chair and marched into the cargo hold. She bent over the controls by the door and painstakingly translated the symbols on each button. Marco made some adjustments to the tel'tac before joining her.

"You can't really want to go down to that piece of rock."

"I really do. How do we activate the rings?"

"The what?"

Marco scratched his head, and the silver transporter attached to his wrist flashed against the gold décor. Cassie stepped back from the controls. Of course Marco wouldn't use the rings; he had his own means of getting down to the planet.

"Never mind. How do I make this thing work? Do I just say '_Execute_'?"

The rushing sense of stepping through a Stargate and the brutal impact of feet on earth answered Cassie's question. Not ready for the transport, but at least accustomed to its effects, Cassie managed to stay on her feet. She scrapped her hand on the hard ground as she struggled to right herself.

"Yes," Marco replied drolly, appearing next to her.

Cassie turned in a full circle taking in the planet. A flat and desolate landscape extended to the horizon in all directions. The ground beneath her tennis shoes was nothing more than charred and cracked rock. Cassie closed her eyes and tried to picture the Abydos Jack and Daniel had known on the first trip through the Stargate. Sand blowing across dunes, pyramids to rival Giza, a wood-and-canvas city. When she opened her eyes, she was confronted by another planet decimated, another human civilization massacred by the Goa'uld.

"I wonder why this rock was in the Lucian Alliance database," Marco mused. "There's no people, no resources, no point to it. Sorry I couldn't have taken you someplace better."

"No, this is perfect, Marco. It used to be populated by humans taken from Ancient Egypt by Ra, and it was the first mission for Earth's Stargate program. Abydos is the beginning of everything – Earth's exploration, the downfall of the Goa'uld. If there had been no Abydos, I would have died on Hanka along with everyone else or been taken host by Nirrti. My mom would have never gone to Vallini to set up clinics."

Cassie turned to Marco, but the harsh setting sun blinded her, and she couldn't see his expression.

"So what happened here?"

"Anubis."

Marco nodded and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. Abydos had always been a hot, desert planet, but the baked mud desert offered no reprieve from the battering sun. Cassie could almost feel her pale skin burning after ten minutes.

"I know there's nothing to see here," Cassie began, "but I'm glad this is where we ended up."

Standing on Abydos, Cassie felt an affinity to the other humans in the Milky Way more keenly than ever before. Proof of kinship surrounded her. Here lived another society of humans equally oppressed, equally punished for committing no crimes, and ultimately, victims of genocide. She could see the ghosts of Skaara and Sha're and her Hankan parents in the heat devils. They were the same whatever planet they called home.

"Did you know anyone from Abydos, then?"

"In a manner of speaking," Cassie replied. "_Execute!_"

The command to the transporter sent a chill crawling down her spine that had nothing to do with soaring through space to the tel'tac.

The interior of the ship felt blessedly cool after the sweltering heat of Abydos. Cassie's arms bore signs of the vicious sunlight. Less than a quarter of an hour on the planet, and her skin bore angry red blotches and prominent freckles. Marco looked much the same way, minus the freckles.

Travelling from Earth to the tel'tac to Abydos and back, Cassie understood what Sam had told her about gravity. She felt lighter, almost buoyant on Abydos and strangely heavy back on the ship.

"Back to Earth, then? Or do we have time for one more attempt at finding a good planet?"

Cassie shook her head. When she remembered her first trip in space, she wanted to think of Abydos and how she found a piece of herself there.

o o o

The journey back to Earth seemed to take twice as long, but Marco assured Cassie they were travelling at the same speed. What she had imagined as a short trip on the way to Abydos had in fact been several hours long. Marco had packed extra rations, but even so such a confined space triggered claustrophobia and fatigue after awhile.

"Are your ships as cramped as this tel'tac?" Cassie asked, midway through a yawn.

"No," Marco laughed. "We'd all go stir crazy …. Like you are." He flashed her a teasing smile. "The _Savarna_ is big – about the same size as your _Prometheus_. We only have about half the crew, though, so everyone has room to breathe. More or less."

Cassie had never seen the _Prometheus_ except in archive photos. She knew it was smaller than the _George Hammond_, though.

"It would take some time to adjust, in any case," Marco commented. "But it grows on you. I couldn't image living any other way. Kaldarri are free to do what they want, when they want." He glanced sidelong. "How's the sales pitch?"

"Good. Tempting."

The flight consoles informed Marco and Cassie they were approaching Earth coordinates. The star streaks shrank into regular pinpoints of light and Earth rose in the windows. Smiling brightly, Cassie relaxed in the co-pilot chair and rolled her neck so she could look at Marco.

"This has been, by far, the most wonko date the planet Earth has ever known. It's too bad none of my friends have security clearance. I'd love to make them jealous. Knights in shining really can't compare to Kaldarri in spaceships."

"A knight in what?"

Cassie didn't answer. Her relaxed posture morphed into rigid fear as two Earth battlecruisers maneuvered between the tel'tac and Earth. Apparently, the _Sun Tzu_ had repaired its weapons systems.

"Radio!" Cassie cried. "We have to tell them who we are!"

"What? They wouldn't just fire on a – "

"Earth is already on high alert. The Lucian Alliance attacked us through the Stargate two days ago, and we're in one of their ships. Not to mention we've been gone gods know how long, so they probably think you're Lucian Alliance and you kidnapped me."

Marco cursed in a Goa'uld dialect unfamiliar to Cassie and hurriedly tuned the radio to the frequency used by Earth defense. Before he reached the correct band, a squadron of F-302s swarmed from the _George Hammond_'s hangar bay. The _Sun Tzu_ fired a warning shot across the tel'tac's bow.

"Just be glad that wasn't an Asgard weapon," Cassie said, when Marco cursed again.

The radio came to life, transmitting Sam's voice through the tel'tac intercom system. "… _identify or we will fire_."

Cassie slammed her palm down on the button as the _Sun Tzu_ fired another burst so close to the bow she thought she saw the projectiles fly past the window.

"Sam, it's Cassie. I'm on the tel'tac. Don't fire!"

That wasn't even close to proper radio communication protocol, but it was the best Cassie could muster with so much adrenaline racing through her system. She felt fortunate her brain could still form coherent words.

"Cassie?" Sam replied after a long pause. Shock and relief flooded her voice. "What the hell happened? And where have you been?"

"It's, uh, kind of a long story. I'd be happy to explain everything when we're on the ground."

There was another silence, presumably while Sam relayed orders to the _Sun Tzu_'s commander and the 302 pilots. "You'll be escorted to Peterson by four 302s. Do not attempt to deviate from the flight plan or cloak the ship. Do you copy, Cassie?"

She glanced at Marco, who nodded. "I copy, Sam. I'll see you planet side."

With the radio off, Marco felt free to speak his mind. "Bit of overkill for one small cargo ship, eh?"

Cassie exhaled deeply and tried to force her heart to stop flipping over in her chest. "You'd think. But our enemies have done a lot of damage with one small cargo ship."

Marco followed the lead 302 into Earth's atmosphere. The ship jostled despite the inertial dampeners, and flames leapt up around the windows during reentry. Just as suddenly as it started, it was over and they flew through thick, wet clouds in the upper atmosphere. When she could make out the shape of North America, the 302s banked hard right and touched down at Peterson Air Force Base.

The scene outside the tel'tac matched Cassie's expectations exactly. Twenty or thirty armed airmen and marines had circled the cargo ship. Three black SUVs idled around the perimeter, and officers in dress blues climbed out of the backseats. The 302s circled the base in case Marco tried to take off.

The moment Cassie stepped out of the ship, a pair of immensely strong hands clasped her upper arms and steered her towards the first idling SUV with such force she couldn't resist. She glanced behind to see several airmen muscling Marco in the same way, but he put up a fight. Cassie recognized his look as one of fear turning into defiance.

"It's okay, Marco," she called. "They're taking us to the place where we keep the Stargate. We have to talk to them, and then you'll be allowed to leave. I've got it all worked …"

But she wasn't allowed to say anything more. The owner of the strong arms pushed her into the backseat and slammed the door. She had a glimpse of Marco, now walking willingly, through the tinted glass. The other door opened and closed. Cassie turned to see who had joined her.

Teal'c wore a look of such outrage, Cassie momentarily forgot he was a gentle and just friend. She saw him as a Jaffa, and her eyes flickered up to the gold serpent tattoo on his forehead. It might as well have been the bird emblem of Nirrti for the fear it inspired in her.

"What thoughts were in your head, Cassandra?" His tone was not what he would have used with enemies of Apophis, but perhaps with a very young Ry'ac. He became Teal'c again, and Cassie could breathe easier.

"I know what it looks like, Teal'c, but that's not what happened."

"It would appear that you were unexpectedly transported out of your home, but then willingly left Earth with an alien man, giving no notice to the authorities who permit or deny such travel. The authorities who are also the people who love you and care for your well-being. And in doing so, you left these people to believe for twelve hours that you had been abducted by a ruthless enemy who only two days previously killed many good and innocent people."

Cassie froze, all traces of placating good humor wiped off her face. She had judged this situation wrong. Again, a nagging voice in her head shouted _hubris!_ because she had counted on Jack waving his magic three stars at the problem and making it go away. For her. Just for her.

"Who is riding with Marco?" she asked, deflecting the question. There would be plenty of time to tell the story – which she now knew would beg the question: 'Did you ever once ask him to turn the ship around?' – and receive the punishment for answers that would be unsatisfactory.

"Colonel Mitchell thought it prudent to keep me separated from the alien."

"And yet, here you are."

Teal'c lifted one eyebrow, either to signal that he recognized she was an alien too or to warn her that he did not appreciate her cheek. She dropped all attempts at lightening the mood and went silent for several minutes.

"Teal'c … How do you know when you're not free?"

Teal'c remained still for several moments before wondering, "Why do you ask me this question now, Cassandra?"

"It's something … I've just been thinking a lot lately about my future."

"Many things can enslave us, Cassandra, and freedom has many definitions. I can speak only of my own experience, and it will not mean anything to you, for you have not lived the life of a Jaffa."

"In my civics class, we defined freedom as self-determination."

Teal'c bowed his head. "A worthy definition and one used by many Jaffa. But I believe self-determination has two definitions, Cassandra. While I refer to one, you refer to the other. I will not say your definition is less worthy, but I caution you. Such freedom can itself be a slave master. Consider Ishta's people who once used any means to gain their freedom, and in so doing, hindered their own cause by unknowingly striking down their brethren."

The train of SUVs pulled into the Cheyenne Mountain complex, and Cassie joined the cluster of airmen taking the access elevators down to the SGC. Still watched closely by Teal'c, she kept her eyes to the front, trying to rehearse a version of the story that exonerated both Marco and herself.

"General Landry is expecting you in the conference room," Teal'c said when the second elevator opened onto the familiar scene of concrete tunnels.

"And Marco?"

"He will be accommodated elsewhere."

Cassie knew what that meant. She kept quiet and followed Teal'c up two flights of stairs. Sam waited by the bank of windows looking down on the embarkation room. Her lips pressed into a thin line, brow furrowed, she looked every bit the Air Force Colonel. Daniel stood a few paces away looking more worried than angry. He offered her a grimace that she supposed was meant to be a smile. General Landry entered from his office, impassive as always.

"Sit. Now, will someone tell me why my very pleasant dream about relaxing vacations and red-crested pochards was interrupted at one in the morning?"

Cassie's jaw slipped. Teal'c had said she'd been gone twelve hours, but it hadn't registered in the litany of other offenses he'd listed. Her eyes swiveled to the clock. It declared the time 0200.

Sam cocked her head in Cassie's directions, still looking furious, and Teal'c glanced sidelong at her. With a deep breath, for courage or to buy time, she explained about her conversation with Jack, Marco's unexpected trip to the tel'tac in orbit, and their departure into hyperspace.

"When this young man, Marco, opened a hyperspace window," General Landry began, irritation now dripping from his voice, "did you consider sending a radio communication to Stargate Command first?"

Cassie said nothing, and that was answer enough. Sam looked away, and the gesture spoke volumes of outrage and hurt. Cam entered the room and took a seat at the table. Apparently, one of the SGC's "guest rooms" now held Marco.

"So then what?"

Cassie answered the General's question as succinctly as possible. "We flew to the closest set of coordinates in the database. Abydos."

Daniel's head snapped up from the notebook he'd been jotting in, and Sam deigned to look at Cassie for the first time since she'd started explaining a quarter of an hour ago.

"And did you …." Daniel trailed off.

"We transported down to the planet." Cassie checked her arms. No longer angry red, her skin was nonetheless bronzed and covered in freckles. "There's … there's nothing …"

"And then?"

"And then … we came back," Cassie finished lamely.

"And ignored the _Sun Tzu_'s hails for a full five minutes," Sam snapped. "You're lucky we didn't blow you out of the sky."

"I'm going to tell you a story now, Cassie," General Landry began waspishly. "While you were off doing everything you've always wanted, we had a war room going. The Lucian Alliance are after doctors now, as you were told three days ago. Colonel Mitchell and Teal'c thought you'd been snatched from right under their noses. That's a great feeling for an Air Force officer and a Jaffa."

Cassie felt her shoulders hunch, as if poor posture could save her from the General's brutal sarcasm.

"We double timed the _Sun Tzu_'s repairs while we collected a list of planets they might have taken you. Three SG teams scrapped their missions and mounted a rescue, because we don't leave our people behind. As we speak, all three teams are off world in enemy territory searching for you."

Cassie blanched.

"So was it worth it?" Sam demanded. She stared at Cassie like a wrong answer might send her flying across the table in a rage. Cassie recognized the look. Her mom had worn it many times when she'd mouthed off too much.

The right answer, of course, was no. No, it was not worth risking the lives of twelve people and wasting valuable time and assets. But part of Cassie couldn't be sorry. The wonderment of seeing Earth from space, of stepping onto an alien world, of feeling the kinship between herself and all the other humans in the Milky Way ….

"General Landry, sir. I am truly sorry that I didn't think about – about anyone else. I can't excuse what I did. After we talked about how I could never go through the Stargate or be part of the SGC in the way I wanted – "

"You are not seriously … Cassie, that's an _excuse_!" Sam cried.

"And a pathetic one at that," the General echoed.

Cassie felt her cheeks burning from a mixture of shame and anger. She wanted to protest, but Teal'c laid a hand on hers beneath the table. She hesitated, and General Landry had the final word. Rising from the table, he stared down at Cassie, his fury showing only in his eyes.

"A lot of powerful people are very fond of you, Dr. Fraiser, and you've been granted a great deal of latitude because of it. A less diplomatic way of saying it might be to compare you to a spoiled child. Let's see how your behavior improves if you're treated like every other civilian medical student in the world. Your security clearance and access to this base is hereby revoked."


	8. 4,748

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Eight**

**4,748**

"Dr. Fraiser?"

Cassie's head snapped up from the patient chart cradled in her left arm. Dr. Appleby stared down at her with his inscrutable amber eyes, a frown marring his wide lips. Long before Cassie started her clerkship in psychiatry, she'd been warned that he didn't like interns who dabbled in psychiatry. She had planned to wow him with her enthusiasm, but that had gone off the rails her first morning.

"I would recommend Mr. Wyndham attend group sessions."

Appleby passed her a withering stare and rolled his eyes before he'd turned completely away. She couldn't find it in her heart to care. Since leaving the SGC in the early morning hours after Landry revoked her privileges, Cassie felt her world free falling. Everything right suddenly flipped upside down and emotions buffeted her like high altitude winds.

She left the SGC and returned home to find Homer lethargic and his food untouched. The thought of her beloved dog on his last leg, coupled with the SGC being taken away from her had been too much. She had spent several hours on the couch, clutching Homer and crying, before she fell asleep. She didn't wake until late Sunday evening and had a scant few hours to prepare for her new clerkship. Dr. Appleby had started the new rotation by grilling his interns, and Cassie had failed to measure up in his eyes. Three weeks in psychiatry and Cassie had not been able to salvage her image.

It did not escape Cassie that Dr. Appleby could help her more than anyone else in the hospital. If only she could tell him about space aliens and Stargates. But she couldn't, so she kept her head down and did everything she could to redeem herself in his eyes.

"Finish the charts," Appleby grunted, as they left Mr. Wyndham muttering by the window.

Three weeks without the SGC felt like a lifetime to Cassie. She had spoken to Vala and Daniel on the phone. Vala wanted to hear all about Marco. Daniel offered words of encouragement to Cassie without taking sides. He had even gone so far as to stretch 'top secret' to its breaking point. Thanks to Daniel, she knew Marco stayed at the SGC as a guest in the military's purest sense of the word. His hatred of the Lucian Alliance and willingness to share information kept him in Landry's good graces. He kept asking for Cassie, Daniel said. She worried what would happen when Marco gave up and tried to go home.

_"Still haven't spoken to Sam?" Daniel injured._

_ "I've tried. I figured she's on a mission and hasn't gotten my messages."_

Daniel's silence had been answer enough. Either Sam remained furious or afraid she couldn't hold a conversation without including information Cassie was no longer authorized to know about. Walter always returned Jack's messages. Being cut off from Jack and Sam left Cassie sullen and moody. It felt too much like the weeks following her parents' deaths.

o o o

The blessed darkness of the on call room lulled Cassie into sleep. Still in her scrubs and tennis shoes, she had fallen into dreams before her head hit the pillow. Less than two hours after crashing, her phone blaring _Rocket Man_ roused her from sleep.

"Uhhe," she mumbled, and then realized she hadn't pushed the talk button yet. She tried again, "Hello?"

"Hey, kid," Jack's voice said. She woke fully in an instant. "Sorry to call so early, but you know it's the only time I have. I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, it's fine." Her voice sounded thick with sleep. She grabbed for the bottle of water on the floor. "I'm on call tonight. Two hours of sleep is unheard of. I've probably only got three minutes before I'm paged."

"Good." Jack sounded subdued. Not a good sign. "Walter told me you've left, uh, _some_ messages." She could almost hear his sardonic expression through the line.

"Yeah. Three weeks is a long time for us to go without talking."

He sighed into the receiver and filled her ear with static. "Look, Cassie … I'm not going to lecture you …"

"Thank you, because I don't need one. I know how badly I screwed up." She couldn't keep the taint of bitterness from her voice when she added, "And I wasn't going to ask for favors. I know you can't overrule your generals for me."

"Good. So we can move on to our usual topics of conversation?"

"Not really. Most of them are classified." Jack sucked in a breath, and she knew from years of experience she'd said exactly the wrong thing. Before his patience could snap, she changed the subject. "I started my final clerkship. Psychiatry."

"How's that going?"

"I don't think I really have an affinity for it." Cassie didn't add that it was pointless now Landry had kicked her out of the SGC. When would she ever use psychiatry while studying genetics? If she even studied genetics. Her whole career had been based on mapping alien physiologies at the SGC. "But that's okay. I'm done in three weeks, and then I study for my Step II IC. Come July, knock on wood, I'll be a resident."

They chatted for a few minutes about Cassie's residency. She had applied in the surrounding states with the intention of still working in the SGC on her days off. She mentioned to Jack she'd also applied at the University of Southern California's Genetics Institute.

"You want to leave home?"

Cassie stayed quiet for several minutes. "Home. I don't even know what that is anymore. It hasn't been Colorado Springs since Sam was assigned to Atlantis. It's certainly not Denver."

"You know … There are some good programs in Maryland and Virginia."

"I thought about Johns Hopkins. Everyone thinks about Johns Hopkins, though. I don't know if I'm good enough to get in. And to be honest, I don't think the east coast will feel any more like home."

Jack made the sound again that warned Cassie she approached dangerous territory. It sparked a flare of anger in her this time.

"You know what I've been thinking about a lot lately? Time. I've been counting a lot, and there's this number that's stuck in my head. 4,748. And I keep wondering who could possibly understand why that number's in my head all the time. I guess you could, Jack. Your number would 100."

"What are you talking about, Cassie?" He sounded well and truly annoyed.

"One hundred days. You were stranded on Edora for one hundred days. I've been on Earth 4,748 days and counting. Thirteen years."

"It's not exactly the same."

"It is. I have a lot here on Earth, but I had a lot on Hanka too. I can't forget that just because my birth planet is uninhabited. It's part of who I am, but I've been pretending that it's not. It's no wonder all I can think about is the Stargate and spaceships and General Landry telling me that will never be my role in the SGC."

"It's for your protection," Jack snapped.

"My mom said that Nirrti's device broke down and was absorbed into my blood stream. I learned long ago not to question her judgment. I don't know, maybe it could form again with gate travel, but I'm willing to take the risk."

"Well, the rest of us aren't."

"Jack, you also didn't want to let go of my bicycle seat or let me steer a car on my own."

"You want to go through the Stargate. I get it. Everybody wants to go through the Stargate, but not everyone can."

"I understand that better than you know. I know why you don't want me going out into the universe. But standing there on Abydos, for the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged."

"Cassie –"

"Would now be a good time to pretend my pager just went off? We could talk again in three weeks if that would, somehow, make the problem go away. Except, I don't think it will." Her voice sounded high and faintly hysterical. "Because I'm going to keep remembering that you let Martin's friends and _Nirrti_ and gods know how many other aliens leave Earth, but I'm not allowed to. I'm stranded here 4,748 days and counting all the way to forever."

A long silence fell over the telephone. Then Jack sighed deeply.

"So much for not asking for favors. Hank is not going to be happy about this, Cassie, so don't you dare do anything to piss him off more."

o o o

In the coming days, Cassie began to feel ashamed of herself for losing control on the phone and manipulating Jack into giving her exactly what she wanted. When she told her fellow interns about it over lunch – without classified details, of course – Tasha had laughed it off, "Sounds like every parent and child in existence."

That had only made Cassie feel worse. She had known for a long time, ever since examining the picture of Charlie in Jack's office, that they would have been the same age. That Jack would have bought _Charlie_ a dog, would have taught _Charlie_ to drive. When she next spoke to Daniel, she asked if she should apologize to Jack. His '_No! God, no!_' came so emphatically, it startled Cassie.

On the fourth Tuesday after losing her access and security clearance, the doorbell of Cassie's Colorado Springs house chimed. She carefully pushed Homer off her lap and set aside her textbooks before running to answer the door.

"Sam!"

Her godmother stood on the front steps in her dress uniform, and the shiny BMW waited in the driveway. Cassie didn't allow the awkward moment to fester. She threw her arms around Sam and squeezed for all she was worth. When she pulled away again, Sam had tears in her eyes.

"Come on. I volunteered to take you to the SGC so General Landry can give you new credentials."

In the car, Cassie let Sam take the lead. They'd repaired their relationship in a fraction of the time as Cassie and Jack but there were still things to talk about. Sam would not let her off without a lecture.

"I was so worried, Cassie. I was halfway around the planet when the hyperspace window opened. We've almost lost you so many times. I thought I'd let you slip through my fingers for good. Then you showed up acting like nothing was wrong when I spent every second of those twelve hours a complete wreck and pretending to hold it together for my crew …"

"I'm sorry, Sam. I –"

"I talked to Jack." She threw a sheepish smile at Cassie who let the familiarity pass without comment. "He told me what you said. Believe it or not, I understand. After I was host to Jolinar, I felt so different. It took a long time to find anyone who understood, and when I did …."

Sam pulled into the base parking lot and led the way to the access elevator with Cassie in tow. A thrill of excitement passed through Cassie's toes and up her spine. The familiarity of the naquadah in the mountain showered her with warmth. She could sense Sam beside her, Vala and Teal'c deep beneath the rock, and like a lighthouse in a storm, the Stargate.

"I'll leave you here," Sam said, outside General Landry's office. "I'm going to Bill's lab to talk about our latest project, and I think Vala has been going stir crazy without you to text all the time. She's in the infirmary waiting to see if she's been cleared for active duty."

Cassie waited until Sam departed, then took a deep breath and knocked on General Landry's door. He bade her enter. When he glanced up from his paperwork, only the smallest fraction of irritation showed on his face.

"General Landry, if I can ask … the men who went off world to search for me … did they all get back safely?"

He stayed silent for a moment, and then picked up a security pass and ID tag from his inbox and held them out to Cassie. "You run toward explosions and go into space with strangers and interrupt Generals. I really am getting to know you, Dr. Fraiser. Yes, all my men returned home safely."

Cassie left the General's office and turned a right at the end of the corridor. She would go see Vala in the infirmary as requested, but first she wanted to see Marco. Daniel had only given her sketchy information. She paused in front of the door guarded by two SFs and flashed her ID badge.

"Cassie," Marco exclaimed. He looked the way she felt – sullen, restless, stranded. His eclectic clothes had been traded for a blue base uniform that made his skin look even paler than usual.

"Mind if I come in?" The door closed behind Cassie with a snap. "You want to go first? Or should I?"

Cassie filled Marco in on what had happened after they landed at Peterson. She kept the details to a minimum. Marco then gave the Cassie the barebones of the past month.

"It was like you said, they wanted to talk about where I'd been and what I'd seen on Earth. I told them everything because I didn't figure I'd been anywhere or seen anything particularly interesting to them. Then they wanted to compare my story of that day to yours, but that all matched up, of course."

"So why didn't they let you go home?"

Marco harrumphed. "They agreed that I could leave, only they didn't want to give up the tel'tac, and I've no other way off the planet except the Stargate. Lemora has a Stargate, of course, but then I'd be stuck in Percivia. The Kaldarri aren't welcome there, and I don't fancy rotting in my grandfather's estate ever again. I'm not going back to Percivia. I told General Landry I'd rather stay on Earth, so here I am."

"Daniel told me you've been giving them information about the Lucian Alliance."

"Ah, yeah, any chance to take a dig at the vultures. I don't know how much more useful I'll be. My people try to avoid them whenever we can."

"So you've been stuck underground without being able to see the sky," Cassie observed sadly. "Kind of like me, kept away from the SGC."

"Only I've had that television everyone on Earth loves so much. They have a channel all about space, you know. N.A.S.A."

"NASA," Cassie corrected. "We also have a Weather Channel. When Jonas Quinn was here, he really loved that one."

Silence fell while both tried to avoid the subject that had to be discussed. Cassie braved the topic first.

"Any idea how you'll get back to the _Savarna_?"

"I figure, eventually, I'll give them all the information I've got, and they'll give up the tel'tac so I can go home. Like I said, I really don't think I have much more for them. When I go back to the Kaldarri will I be going alone?"

Cassie took a breath. "No. At least, I don't think so. One trip in space wasn't enough for me." Some of her old animated warmth returned to her voice. "I want to see more, but it was a huge concession just to be let back into the SGC, and I'm not particularly proud of how I managed that one. What I want to do, I can't here. But just as important as seeing the galaxy is to me, so is becoming a doctor …."

"We've got a doctor on the _Savarna_ now," Marco rushed. "She's a great doctor, Tasia. She'll be able to teach you anything you don't already know."

"That's good to hear." She smiled genuinely. "The thing is, I plan to be back here at the SGC someday. It's a long story, but I have to be here far in the future so the past can happen." While Marco tried to work that one out, Cassie went on. "I have three weeks of my internship left, then a week to study for my last test. I'm not a qualified doctor on Earth until then."

Marco searched her with his black eyes, brow furrowed, but lips smiling. "All right, then, Cassie. I can do one more month of gloomy underground tunnels and commissary food. If you'll come with me …"

Cassie beamed. "Twenty eight days and counting down."


	9. Nights

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Nine**

**Nights**

Cassie moved into her guest quarters at the SGC – technically, Sam's quarters – the day after striking her bargain with Marco. She thought it only appropriate to spend as much time in the SGC as possible since he was staying for her. She smuggled Homer into the base and justified herself by pointing out that refugees had brought horses and worse in the past. While Cassie worked, studied, or drove the hour to Denver, Homer kept Marco company.

She confided her plans to leave Earth in no one. Although she would not make the same mistake of disappearing without notice again, broadcasting her intentions too far ahead of time would be counterproductive. The bad thing about living in the SGC was that her every move was watched.

"Is this all people on Earth do?" Marco inquired. "Watch television and read books?"

Cassie looked up from the pile of books and notes scattered across the table in Marco's quarters. He sat on the bed leaning against the headboard with Homer's head on his knee. Some copycat of a copycat reality show played on the television screen.

"Some, but not all. It's just that you have to go off base to do other things. I think there's probably a deck of cards around here somewhere. I'll see if I can find some and teach you a few Earth games."

With just under four weeks to go before the Step II IC examination, Cassie did not have much time for games. Her shifts at the hospital continued to last twelve to sixteen hours, although she found psychiatry a less demanding clerkship than any of her others. Diagnosing and treating patients had long since become _de rigueur_, but observation and conversation had replaced the taxing surgeries and emergent situations.

Between the drives to Denver, long shifts, and study schedule, Cassie found time to keep her promise to Marco. She could see living underground drained him. Inaction didn't help either, but if he complained at all, he never did so around Cassie.

"What's the point of this game again?" Marco asked.

"To get rid of all the cards in your hand," Cassie explained, laying down a reverse, skip, and red four. "_Uno!_"

"It's kind of easy," he laughed.

"Yeah, well …. Do the Kaldarri only like difficult games?"

He beamed. "We spend hours every night in the mess after dinner playing card games. We've invented dozens of them, and we swap chores instead of those plastic things I saw Reynolds and Dixon using. I'll teach you all our games when we're on the _Savarna_."

They shared a long connection across the table, both smiling wildly. They stood on the brink of endless possibilities, and it imbued them both with restless energy.

Cassie found herself daydreaming about life among the Kaldarri when she should have been focused on research articles and patient charts. She wondered what the _Savarna_ looked like, and where space gypsies got their food and clothing. Marco had told her everyone earned their keep, and she would do her part by healing the sick. She found herself anxious and curious to learn about their medicine, which was bound to be drastically different from Earth's.

During her next to final week in her intern year, Cassie arrived at the SGC with an armful of library books and DVDs. She rapped three times on Marco's door in quick succession. He made a face at the books, then laughed and let her inside.

"These aren't for me," Cassie announced. "They're for you. When I came to Earth and learned about how the Goa'uld had taken my ancestors to Hanka, I wanted to know who they were here. I thought maybe you'd be interested too. I took a look at some of the other reports from Lemora, and …"

Cassie gestured to the small mound of books and DVDs on the Etruscans and Romans. She had been unable to determine exactly which ancient peoples had been transplanted to Lemora because their civilization had evolved so greatly, but the archeologists' reports had narrowed it down to the Italian peninsula.

"Our ancestors were neighbors," she announced. "They lived just across the sea from each other."

Marco snagged one of the documentaries from the pile and tapped the photograph of crumbling aqueducts on the cover. "I've seen these before. They run through the capital in Percivia, but they're not used anymore."

Cassie started up the DVD player and hopped onto the bed next to Marco where they leaned against the headboard with Homer asleep between them and watched reconstructions of Etruscan civilization.

"This is nice, Cassie, like being back in school," Marco teased.

She laughed. "I suppose Kaldarri don't have traditional schools, do they? I only started one myself when I came to Earth. On Hanka, parents taught their children at home. I've loved school from my first day."

He motioned to the medical textbooks still piled on the table where Cassie had left them the night before. "Yeah, I can see that."

They shared another moment of laughter, brown eyes gazing into black. Cassie no longer saw Marco as her young patient anymore, not now that they'd planned an adventurous future together. She felt an overwhelming desire to make him more than her friend and coconspirator. She leaned into him, and he responded the same way.

Marco did not kiss like Earth men. Or else the electric surge of emotion was something other than Cassie had felt before.

"We're being watched," she whispered.

Sliding off the bed, she grabbed a jacket and climbed on top of the chair. The blue cloth fell over the small security camera suspended from the corner. When she jumped off the chair, she saw Marco had gently removed Homer to the floor. He clicked off the narrator droning on the television. With a smile a bit bolder than she felt inside, she rejoined Marco on the bed.

o o o

The wailing klaxons woke Cassie at four in the morning, just two hours after she and Marco had fallen asleep. She blinked blearily at the chink of red light under the door. Marco stirred beside her and mumbled something unintelligible.

"It's okay. Just another team coming back from a mission." The sergeants on duty in the control room had not signaled a medical team. "It's a nice alarm clock anyway. I need to grab a shower and get ready for work."

She kissed Marco before untangling her limbs from his and scooting out of bed. He made an appreciative noise as she scrambled for her clothes.

"Meet me in the commissary for breakfast," he mumbled before his head hit the pillow again.

Cassie backed out of the room, closed the door with a soft snap, turned, and came face to face with Cameron Mitchell. They stared at one another for a beat.

"Well, this is awkward," Cam stated.

Cassie led the way to the locker rooms. "Why? We're both adults."

"Oh, no, it's awkward. You're Sam and General O'Neill's goddaughter, he's an alien, and I met you coming out of his room at four in the morning."

"I'm an alien too, Cam."

The colonel's brow furrowed. "Yeah, I keep forgetting that. It's hard to remember if you haven't got a big 'ole tattoo on your forehead or have wardrobe caches all over the damn galaxy."

"How's Amy?"

The abrupt change in conversation brought Cam up short just long enough for Cassie to slip into the women's locker room, thus permanently ending the discussion. Or so she thought. As Cassie discovered when Vala cornered her in the commissary two days later, SG-1 tended to have all kinds of conversations off world.

"So. Marco."

Cassie looked up wide-eyed from what was supposedly lasagna to find Vala's smile stretched to its breaking point. Clearly, she enjoyed that she could gossip about sexual exploits other than her own.

"I don't see this conversation happening," Cassie returned.

"Oh, well, you might as well practice on me. Teal'c and my Daniel are pretty riled up about it. And once they tell Sam and General O'Neill, your little illusion of privacy is over."

Vala, it turned out, was quite correct.

o o o

Cassie shrugged off her white lab coat as she hurried across the quad to meet with Sam. A chilly May had turned into a beautiful and temperate June. The gentle breeze felt soothing against her bare arms sore from restraining a paranoid schizophrenic while Dr. Appleby injected her with a sedative. Even more students than usual filled the walls and tables and sunny grounds around the bright white sidewalks.

"Sorry I'm late," Cassie apologized, climbing onto the bench. "Emergency."

Within an hour of talking to Vala, Sam had called Cassie to schedule lunch at their usual table on the medical campus grounds. She didn't know what to expect. Six weeks ago, Cassie would have staked her life on chit-chat and a lot of giggling. Now, she wasn't so sure.

"That's all right." Sam motioned to her ear piece. "I can monitor everything happening on the _George Hammond_ from right here. I received orders this morning. The _Odyssey_ is returning for a systems upgrade tomorrow. I'm leaving Earth again for awhile."

Cassie felt her heart constrict. She had grown up with one person or another on a mission, but she had never become immune to the fear it triggered. "I guess I'm supposed to say god speed or something like that."

"No, you're supposed to say good-bye. But before we get there maybe we should talk about this boy."

"Something tells me you have more to say than I do."

Sam sighed deeply, exactly as Jack had during their last phone conversation. "I don't want to lecture, Cassie. I've heard you're spending a lot of time on base. You're practically living there. I can't help but wonder if this boy isn't distracting you when you're so close to finishing your intern year."

"His name is Marco. And I'm doing my shifts and studying for the Step II just like all the other interns. You know, med students _do_ have relationships and function at work too."

"And are any of them in a relationship with an alien living in the top secret military facility?"

"Probably not. But then, it's an equally good bet that none of them are aliens too." She offered Sam a wan smile.

"He can't stay in the SGC forever, Cassie. The only reason General Landry has let him stay so long is because of the information he gave us on the Lucian Alliance. Eventually, he has to go home."

Cassie put down her fork and pushed away the unfinished portion of her meal. "He can't leave until General Landry orders Peterson or whoever to give him the tel'tac back. His people aren't welcomed to use the Stargate."

"That order was given right after Marco's debriefing. He's been a guest for five weeks …"

A warm glow spread out from Cassie's heart, suffusing her with a radiant feeling. Her lips flickered into a brilliant smile, seemingly of their own accord, and her cheeks flushed with the same ecstatic glow that pulsed through her body. Across the table, Sam trailed off, her mouth forming a perfect O. As she observed Cassie's reaction, her mouth worked itself into a sad frown.

"He won't be at the SGC much longer," Cassie promised.

"And when he leaves, what then?" Sam's voice dripped with despair, as if Cassie had proclaimed she had an incurable illness. Cassie didn't have a chance to answer. Sam's hand flew to her ear piece. "Wait for my signal."

The colonel leapt up from the table and grasped Cassie's upper arm tightly. Without a glance at the half-finished meal on the picnic table, Sam beat a path into a small niche on the west side of the hospital.

"Where are we going? Sam, I can't just leave the hospital. I have patients and – "

Blinding white light erupted around Cassie, and she had a glimpse of an austere bridge full of airmen, then Sam released her arm, barked an order, and the white light consumed Cassie again. She found herself standing in the control room at the SGC overlooking the gate room.

It took Cassie a moment to make sense of the chaos in the room below. A crowd gathered around the Stargate ramp – armed SFs, General Landry, technicians, and every member of SG-1 – and shouted orders penetrated the glass. A lone man stood in front of the gate. Huge, nearly the size of Teal'c, with a head of black hair and scarred face, he stood with his feet planted at shoulder-width and arms crossed over his barrel chest.

Cassie rushed down the steps, around the concrete pillar, and into the gate room. She elbowed her way to the front, surprised to see an anxious-looking Marco hovering at the foot of the ramp. He cast her a pleading look.

"When did you get here?" General Landry growled at her.

"I … was beamed here. What's going on?"

"I was told you could explain," the General thundered.

Cassie looked helplessly between General Landry, Marco, and the crowd of familiar faces all aiming weapons at the man on the ramp. Then she looked at the stranger more closely, and she saw similarities in the fathomless eyes and classic square jaw. Abandoning all caution, Cassie mounted the two steps. The top of her head reached the man's shoulder. Her mom would have come to his chest.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Between Marco and mission reports, I feel like I already know you." The man's eyes flickered over her face, and she could see he felt as bewildered by this turn as she had only a moment again. "My name is Dr. Cassandra Fraiser."

The frostiness in the set of his face melted away, replaced by wide-eyed awe. Slowly, his hands unclenched and his arms relaxed. He held out one to Cassie.

"The pleasure is most certainly mine."

Cassie took his hand, and then turned to the armed guards and crowd of officers. "It's okay. Everyone, meet an old friend of my mom's, Captain Luca Beyash."


	10. Luca

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Ten**

**Luca**

Silence and tension crackled around the eight people seated around the conference room table. Cassie sat with her back to the windows peering down on the Stargate, Marco and Luca beside her in a line. Across the table, SG-1 sometimes made eye contact and other times stared resolutely at the varnished wood table. General Landry waited at the head of the table, glaring at each person in turn, as if daring them to break the silence.

The last half hour seemed a blur to Cassie. She could hardly piece together how events had unfolded. She remembered Landry giving the order to seize Luca, and her own intervention. A more reasonable voice – Daniel, probably – had recommended they talk about this first before they went throwing people into holding cells.

So here they were, sitting in the SGC conference room – five aliens, three not – waiting for two more to arrive and balance out their numbers. Not that Cassie thought arguments would fall along those lines. Teal'c would invariably defer to Jack's opinion. Vala was a swing vote – if only the USAF believed in voting on its decisions.

The brilliant white beam transported Jack and Sam into the conference room. Whatever pleasantries might have been exchanged died with a single moment of eye contact and recognition.

"You!" Jack and Luca exclaimed in unison.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Hank," Jack began jauntily, "but don't we usually arrest felons."

"Felon?" Luca demanded. "I've – "

"Yes, felon. Kidnapping a United States Air Force officer is a felony on this planet."

"Maybe this isn't the best way to begin," Daniel interjected, glancing tentatively between Jack and Luca. "We all heard or read Janet's mission report and testimony. I think we're agreed there were certain mitigating circumstances. Right, Jack?"

A moment passed before Jack grudgingly agreed by taking a seat to General Landry's right. Sam claimed the chair opposite Cassie, and the brief look they shared tingled with worry and resolution.

"I only came here to get my son," Luca said gruffly. "Marco was supposed to be back three weeks ago, but he never showed up, so I came to get him. I don't want any trouble. I just want my son to come home."

"We've already made him that offer, Captain Beyash," Landry said, "but Marco doesn't want to go."

He threw Cassie a disapproving glance, and she could see that Luca interpreted the look correctly from the gentle arching of his brow and tiny smile in the corner of his mouth. His eyes searched the corners of the room, and Cassie knew he was expecting her mom to step out of the shadows. There had been no time to tell him that their time together had come and gone. Janet Fraiser would never be a member of the _Savarna_'s crew.

"How did you find – "

"She's not here," Cassie said bluntly, interrupting Sam mid-question. "She died six years ago on an off world mission. She was saving a man's life when a staff blast hit her. Three weeks after you met her."

All movement stopped, as if someone had hit the pause button. The tapping of shoes and rustling of clothes ceased in the same moment and did not resume for several heartbeats. Heads dropped to conceal emotions and shoulders sagged under the weight of memory, but none as deeply as Luca's.

The magnitude of his sorrow sent a ripple of empathy around the room. They had found a connection to Luca, however tenuous, through mutual loss. Cassie could see Jack's discomfort. He would be expected to arrest Luca now. His eyes found hers down the length of the table, and she saw in the steely glare that half a lifetime of personal favors had come to an end.

Over the years, Cassie's requests had grown more and more significant until she had, eventually, asked him to overrule a two star General. It had been the proverbial straw, and now Luca's future hung in the balance with no way for Cassie to influence the outcome.

"I … I'm sorry to hear that," Luca said quietly. "I'd hoped …."

Silence stretched, but Luca didn't finish his statement.

"You have two choices," Jack said finally. "You can leave now and take your ship out of Earth orbit. Or you can spend the rest of your life in a cell at Area 51." He shrugged at Teal'c's pointed look. "If I can set up Harry Maybourne on another planet, I can let Janet's friend go home to his. There's not a lot of time, Luca. The IOA will get wind of this soon, and then it'll be out of my hands."

Cassie felt her heart flip over in her chest. This was no favor to her. Jack was a good man who tried to do the right thing.

"I'm not going without my son," Luca repeated stubbornly.

"We've already told you, he's free to go. Please take him," Landry retorted.

Marco shifted in his chair suddenly and broke his silence. "I'm not going without Cassie."

A beat prefaced an outburst from around the table. "What! – not going anywhere! – have a Dr. Fraiser on board after all? – don't count on it – advisable at this time – if she wants – _romantic_!"

Only Cassie and Marco had refrained from saying anything in the bedlam of voices. Their eyes met, and Cassie gave the slightest of nods to say that she had not changed her mind. Whatever happened here, she would be on board the _Savarna_ soon.

"Not gonna happen!" Jack's shouted. The other protests or celebrations trailed off. "Two options only. None of them include taking Cassie."

"Jack …," she began, but her cut her off abruptly. "No, Cassie! I've given you more latitude than anyone else ever, whether they were under my command or not. You are not leaving this planet. Not with him and not until you're a member of this program, which you won't be for another three years."

"Then I'm not going either," Marco declared.

Cassie felt a swelling sensation in her chest and a warm glow spreading through her. Her eyes fixed on a Marco, and she felt a giddy smile on her lips that soon faded into a concerned frown. Luca and Jack looked on the verge of having fits.

"You can't stay here, Marco. You belong in space with the Kaldarri."

"So do you," he argued.

"For the first time in my life, I do know where I belong," Cassie said, "but I can't ask you to stay here just because I can't leave with you. Go with your father."

"Give them their transporter devices," Jack ordered. "Then you're both going to go back to your ship and fly away from Earth and never come back."

When the SFs entered the room with two silver transporter bands, Luca hauled Marco away from the table. Having used the devices before, Cassie knew they required some space to function properly. She climbed to her feet and wrapped Marco in a tight embrace. As she did so, she leaned in and whispered a farewell.

Next moment, Luca and Marco Beyash disappeared in a whirl of color.

"Major Marks reports the Kaldarri tel'tac is moving off," Sam reported, touching her ear piece. "They're gone."

o o o

Vala perched on top of Daniel's work table, her legs swinging wildly over the side as she flipped through the pages of _Vogue_. Beside her, but in a chair, Cassie's index finger traced a line of Goa'uld text.

"I don't know why you think I can do this, Daniel," she said, exasperation clogging her voice. "I haven't read Goa'uld since I was twelve, and twelve-year-olds don't read any better on Hanka than on Earth."

Daniel peered around his computer screen to answer. "I'm sorry? Didn't you come to me and ask to learn Goa'uld while you wait for your test results?"

"Yes," Cassie grumbled, "but only because Dr. Lam kicked me out of the infirmary and told me to take a break while I could. She said my residency would be killer enough, and I didn't need to get a head start on it."

Vala tossed aside the finished fashion magazine. It landed on a pile of translations littering Daniel's office. "So you're really doing it, then?"

Cassie nodded once. "If I passed the test, then I'm going to California for my residency where I'll learn all about genetics. When I've studied Earth genes enough, I'll come back to the SGC and start my research on alien physiologies."

Awkward silence filled the room, and Cassie looked up just in time to see Daniel and Vala's exchange. The archeologist came out from behind his computer and joined the women at the high table.

"We've been talking," Vala prefaced.

"You're talking to two people who know all about feeling like they don't belong. Everyone gets that feeling sometimes, so maybe Jack and Sam and Teal'c kind of understand, but we really _know_."

A sly smile learned from Jack hitched itself to Cassie's expression. "Shall we talk about our feelings, then? Because I had something a little different in mind …."


	11. Independence

**A Kind of Singularity**

**Chapter Eleven**

**Independence**

Homer died the same day Cassie passed her examination. Dr. Horner called to say the test results for all the interns had been delivered and Cassie should come into Denver to pick them up. When she arrived home, elated with her score, she found Homer lying in his bed, peaceful as if in sleep.

The death of her dog meant more than the passing of a dear friend. She felt her feeble grasp on Earth itself slipping away from her. Homer had symbolized her life on Earth, and now he was gone. She laid Homer to rest in the backyard, near the cache of bones and torn up bits of shoes he had hidden in a shallow hole in the dirt, and marked the spot with a figurine of Homer Simpson.

With tears still clinging to her lashes, Cassie climbed back into her car and drove through Colorado Springs to the cemetery where her mother had been interred. She didn't go to see the grave often. It was not a Hankan tradition to visit the dead, but to honor them with annual memorials in their former homes. That custom had stayed with Cassie throughout her life. Funerals and burials made her uncomfortable, but each year she held vigil for her deceased relatives.

The June sun beat down on Cassie as she picked her way through the headstones bearing angels and crosses – symbols that had never meant anything to her on Hanka. One stone monument portrayed a dove in flight and chills raced down her spine. Did they know, the family who selected that image, that it belonged to a god of destruction called Nirrti?

At her mother's burial site, Cassie sat on the grass with her legs folded beneath her. No strange symbols marked the gray stone bearing Janet Fraiser's name and dates. Beneath it all was inscribed a quotation: _Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity._ When she died, Cassie wanted Hippocrates on her memorial as well.

"Hello, Mom. It's been awhile since I've been here, hasn't it? I've come to say good-bye in the Earth way …"

It was tradition on Earth to leave a gift for the dead, so Cassie placed on the headstone a token more precious than flowers or flags. As she walked away from the grave a quarter hour later, a sheet of paper stamped with the American Medical Association insignia and her passing grade declaring her a qualified medical doctor fluttered in the wind.

o o o

The final days of spring faded into summer and July approached at an alarming clip. Cassie's residency began at the Genetics Institute in early July, just after the holiday Americans celebrated as their independence from Great Britain, now their closest ally. Cassie never observed it herself. Fireworks, ice cream, and baseball games were not adequate to commemorate the wonders of being free.

Instead, Cassie spent the day closing up the house. She would not be making frequent trips back to Colorado Springs anymore. Teal'c and Vala helped her cover the furniture with sheets and tape up the last of the boxes. For the remainder of her time in Colorado and during any visits home, Cassie would live at the SGC in Sam's quarters.

"Will you return here one day, Cassandra?" Teal'c inquired.

She turned in a full circle, taking in the wallpaper and memories one last time. "Yeah, I will. I couldn't leave this house forever. It's the only home I've known on Earth."

"We'll take care of it while you're gone," Vala promised. "We've got to get back to the SGC." She tapped Cassie's watch. "Your surprise going away party starts in an hour."

Teal'c lifted an eyebrow at Vala. "Perhaps you would like a moment alone before we depart?"

"No," Cassie said immediately. "I've been saying good-bye for six years. I'm ready to go now."

o o o

Dress uniforms filled the SGC. Many base personnel had been called away for parades and ceremonies, but returned with the brilliant white flash of Asgard beams. Only a skeleton crew of scientists worked in the SGC, and their casual dressed down state contradicted the military personnel so drastically Cassie had to laugh when she saw Bill and Sam walking together.

Having little else to do when SG-1 was not on missions, Vala had offered to arrange the medically themed going away party. Siler brought in a giant sheet cake decorated like the old game Operation, and Daniel cut pieces with a knife shaped like a scalpel. The blue streamers hanging from the ceiling turned out to be patient bracelets, and the glasses filled with punch fluid sample cups. Bed pans held potato chips and test tubes jell-o shots.

"You didn't steal all this from the infirmary?" Cassie asked.

"No. Not all of it." Vala pointed to the large _Good-Bye and Good Luck, Cassie!_ banner suspended between the swinging doors to the kitchen. "I ordered that on the Internet."

Vala ushered her onto a table draped with surgical sheets. From the feel of the steel beneath, Cassie guessed Vala had wheeled an operating table out of the theater. Carolyn was going to have a fit. Her raised vantage point gave her the opportunity to see everyone who came to say good-bye.

Sam and Bill showed up a couple minutes late, still arguing about some physics conundrum Cassie didn't understand. A hapless scientist who introduced himself as Jay clumsily said good luck. As predicted, Carolyn took one look around the room and sent a scathingly glare at the back of Vala's head. Dr. Warner rushed in very briefly to congratulate Cassie and excuse himself when the blaring klaxons and gate technician announced SG-7 returning. Jack and Walter appeared from a beam, and Cam ambled in a few minutes later. General Landry only came after the klaxons stopped wailing. Daniel joined Vala and Teal'c after laying a small wrapped gift on the table overloaded with cards and presents.

"Speech!" someone in the back of the room shouted. The other guests took up the call, and soon the room was filled with cries of, "Speech! Speech!" Cassie set aside her plate of cake and climbed onto the gurney. Cheers erupted from the more boisterous nurses and sergeants closest to Cassie's age. A stern look from Sergeant Harriman shut them up quickly.

"Thank you for coming to say good bye and good luck. I'm not much of a public speaker, so I'll try to keep this short." Cassie glanced down at her shoes, trying to marshal her thoughts.

"I can't tell you how far I've come because of everyone in this room. No, seriously, I can't. Not everyone has high enough security clearance." Laughter punctuated the moment, and yet it was true. "The Stargate program is responsible for my life. Without all of you, I would be a Goa'uld right now. Instead of ending lives for personal power, I'm learning to save them thanks to your work here.

"I know today is a busy day. We probably could have done this party yesterday, but today felt right. Colorado Springs and the SGC have been my home for thirteen years – the only home I've ever known here. And now I'm leaving for a new place. I always hear this holiday called the Fourth of July, but I think it's important to remember today is more than a date. It feels right – _lucky_ – to start fresh on Independence Day."

After Cassie concluded her slightly awkward speech, she climbed down from the gurney and weaved through the crowd to the cluster of people she loved more than anyone else on Earth. She would miss them all so fiercely it hurt, and yet her future waited.

"I'm going to miss you all so much." Despite herself, Cassie felt her eyes misting.

Vala threw her arms around Cassie and delivered a rib-crushing hug. "I've done all kinds of research on southern California, and I've decided Hollywood is a place I'd really fit in, so I'm going to come and visit you soon."

"I have a feeling we'll see each other more than you think," Daniel supplied, giving Cassie a much gentler embrace. "We're all proud of you, Cassie. We'll check in often."

Cam threw an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. "Ah, now, California's just a few hours west. It's not like you're going millions of light-years away to face crazy alien bad guys, right?"

Teal'c made no reply to Cam, but stepped forward and bowed formally to Cassie. "Among Jaffa it is custom to impart words of wisdom to a departing friend. Will you hear me, Cassandra?" She nodded. Teal'c paused, as if reverently preparing to speak the greatest Jaffa wisdoms. "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Laughter cleared away the tears threatening to fall. Cam used the distraction to politely step away, and Daniel guided Vala over to the food table leaving Cassie alone with Sam and Jack.

"Your mom would be so proud of you," Sam said. Tears welled up in both women's eyes as they embraced. "You've gone from a scared, lonely girl to an amazing, intelligent doctor. You're more like Janet than you know."

"No," Cassie said, using a napkin to dab at her eyes. "I do know."

"We're proud of you too, kid," Jack added. He gave a quick hug and looked away, blinking rapidly. As always with Jack, his actions spoke volumes more than anything he said.

"I'm going to take a look around," Cassie explained, "say a good-bye to the places I won't see for awhile. It's hard to explain, but … naquadah feels like a kind of sunlight to me. I want to absorb a little more before I leave."

Sam nodded, understanding exactly what Cassie meant, and Jack just took their word for it. Only once she was in the hallway did Cassie realize she'd left without actually saying good-bye.

o o o

The klaxons blared to life. For a moment, the good-bye party continued without interruption. Then General Landry checked the time. No teams were scheduled to return, and no gate technician had offered an explanation for the sirens.

A small group broke away from the party and ran to the control room where they found Sergeant Morgan slumped over the dialing keyboard. The two SFs in the gateroom lay sprawled at their stations. They heard more than saw the Stargate establish a wormhole. The iris did not close, and Sam dived for the computer terminal.

"Someone's uploaded a sub-routine. The iris won't close, and the wormhole won't disengage."

The question of _who?_ died on Jack's lips. The woman on the ramp lifted her hand, waved, and stepped through the event horizon. The echo of her final word filtered dully through the control room windows.

_Good-bye._

o o o

Cassie had travelled through the Stargate only once before. She remembered the chill and the swirling vertigo, but that time she'd held hands with Sam and Daniel. Now she was alone falling through the void.

The wormhole deposited Cassie on a stone dais flanked by enormous red-barked trees with drooping leaves the size of small cars. She saw only the DHD, and then three figures emerged from the tree line some hundred yards away. With the blinding blue sun in her eyes, she could not make them out, but she went to meet them under the shade of the monstrous forest.

As she walked, her fingers massaged the place above her heart. She did not think any alien technology lingered in her blood waiting to coalesce into a bomb. Behind her, the wormhole disengaged. A chill unrelated to gate travel passed up her spine. She had no GDO. The iris was closed to her now.

One figure broke off from the others and hurried forward. They stood mere feet apart before Cassie could make out Macro's easy smile and coal black eyes. They met in a tangle of arms with whispered words and kisses only shared by the newly in love.

"You found a way," Marco said.

"I called in a couple IOUs."

When they had said hello for long enough, one of the other figures hanging back cleared his throat pointedly. Cassie glanced over Marco's shoulder at Luca, only half visible in the blinding light.

"Hello, Luca. Good to see you free."

"And you too, Cassie. Can I introduce Tasia? She's the doctor aboard the _Savarna_."

A woman with blonde hair and wide set gray eyes came closer to Cassie. She wore the same eclectic style clothing as Marco and Luca, but she looked as different as a Swede from an Italian.

"I'd be happy to have another doctor in the infirmary with me," Tasia said. "Marco tells me you're Janet Fraiser's daughter. It was your mother who started my training, six years ago, in one of her clinics."

Cassie felt a thrill of some unidentifiable emotion – fear, excitement, danger – as Marco took out a silver transporter band and wrapped it around her wrist. Behind them, the first Stargate chevron flickered to life.

Three voices said, "Execute!" in unison. Cassie, however, remained on the strange planet whose coordinates Marco had given her as their rendezvous point. From her pocket, she pulled out her BlackBerry and balanced it on the DHD where it would be in full view of the MALP or SG team who came through the gate. It was worthless now except for the personal messages recorded on the memory card. The neon pink post-it shouting _Watch Me!_ in all capitals fluttered in the wind, but did not release itself from the BlackBerry screen.

Cassie stepped back and shouted, "Execute!" The unstable vortex of the establishing wormhole filled her vision for a fraction of a second, and then she tumbled through space and landed hard on the deck of a spaceship.

Nothing about this ship looked familiar to her. It was not like any spaceship she had seen on television or in photographs. It appeared to Cassie rather like a living room with the murals painted on the walls and narrow corridors and doors leading off in all directions.

A strong pair of hands helped her to her feet, and the crowd of feet became faces gathered around a sort of mess hall. Cassie counted maybe twenty-five people, some of them children, but most between the ages of thirty and fifty. Apprehensive, and yet alive with possibility, Cassie's lips twitched in a full smile that many of the people returned, if not easily, then at least genuinely.

"Took you a moment to get here," Marco said, a note of concern evident. "If you're having second thoughts …"

"No, no I'm not. I had to leave a message for my friends. I wanted them to know that this good-bye isn't forever. That's the future, though. I'm here now."

Luca excused himself to the bridge, and Marco showed Cassie to a window. She peered down at the brown and blue planet below surrounded by thousands of twinkling stars, and she wondered if she stood in the Big Dipper or beside Canis Major or some other constellation visible from Earth. Then the _Savarna_ banked, the planet descended beneath a metal horizon, and the twinkling star field of a hundred thousand blazing suns filled the view.

**The End**


End file.
